


Breaching the Multiverse

by Book_Warrior7, Singing_Dream



Series: Breaching the Multiverse Saga [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Errortale, Alternate Universe - Inktale, Alternate Universe - Outertale, Alternate Universe - Reapertale, Alternate Universe - Storyshift, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Cool Soul stuff, Echotale, Expect a rollercoaster, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Foreshadowing like crazy, Handplates, Here we go, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Major Character Injury, Major Original Character(s), Maybe - Freeform, Mentioned Iatrophobia, Mentioned Jiuhuphobia, Mentioned Nosocomephobia, Mentioned Nosokomphobia, Mild Gore, Mild torture, Multiverse Shenanigans, No Smut, Not as many puns as there should be, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THOSE KIDDIES, Past Child Abuse, Psychological Trauma, SOME CHAPTERS WILL HAVE TRIGGER WARNINGS, Science, Sexual implications and innuendos, Sorry not sorry ya sinners!, Soul Touching, There's like an AU dump going on here guys, Timeline/Multiverse Paradoxial nonsense, UT!Mob/Mobtale/Mafiatale/Undermafia/we have no idea which it is either sorry guys, Underlevel, Undiagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, action sequences, blood in later chapters, littletale, much swearing, science sans, sexy fluff?, we'll see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2018-09-23 12:03:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 54
Words: 240,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9656714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_Warrior7/pseuds/Book_Warrior7, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singing_Dream/pseuds/Singing_Dream
Summary: Everyone knows the story of Frisk, Chara, Asriel, and the monsters of Undertale. But no one knows much about how the different runs and Resets affected the stability of the universe. So when the Alpha timeline is on the brink of collapse because of Frisk and Chara's dance through time and space, the universe decides it's had enough. But, with Frisk forced out of the Underground, who will take their place?Enter, two new humans: sisters June and May Skies. However, with two new humans comes new problems. Chiefly, when both of them have a habit of stumbling into (or on to) things they shouldn't. Before long, the girls are in way over their heads...and it turns out the multiverse has more in store for them than they ever imagined.





	1. In the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> B- Hey, everyone who happens upon this fic! I am Singing_Dream's beta-reader, Book_Warrior7, and I welcome you to the first fic either of us have posted here. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it.
> 
> S- Hey guys! Singing_Dream here! So, for starters, let's not let Book_Warrior7 sell herself short. She's not just my dedicated beta, she's also my wonderful co-author, without whom much of this fic would not have been possible. So to kick this off, let's give her some love, too! Next point, posting schedule! ...is supposed to be Fridays, but actual posting depends on our schedules. Conflicting schedules for co-authors are definitely a thing. But we'll get them out as soon as we can! Let's see, what else...oh, anything with a trigger warning will be marked with the warning in the beginning notes and a summary of the chapter in the end notes. Um...I think that's it. So! Without further ado, please enjoy our fic!

In the dead of night, when everything should be silent and still, a great clamor of angry voices rises from a small town as flashlights and torches flicker to life. A crowd gathers at the edge of the forest at the base of the mountain they have been protecting for longer than anyone can remember, about to spread out and begin their search.

Some ways up the side of Mt. Ebott, where the forest is slightly less dense, two figures pause and look down at their home. The smaller of the two is doubled over, catching their breath from all the running. The taller is watching the chaos below them, barely panting at all.

“Can we…can we stop here?” the smaller asked, her high pitched voice betraying her youth as she glanced up at the taller. The taller shook her head, pushing back her hood so her face could be seen in the darkness.

“They already know you’re gone. They’re starting the search. Look,” she replied, pointing with a long thin hand back down the mountain to the lights shining through the canopy of trees. The smaller turned, pushing back her hood as well, and spotted the lights with widening ice-blue eyes.

“Then what are we standing here for?” she hisses, grabbing the taller girl by the hand. “Let’s go!”

The two rush off into the night, pulling their hoods back up to cover their faces. They call to each other quietly and infrequently, helping each other avoid dangers and obstacles while they run through the darkness. But suddenly, the smaller girl disappeared with a shrill scream, the older shouting her name and racing back to the spot the smaller vanished. The older girl discovered a hole previously unseen in their path and knelt, hoping to spot the smaller somewhere in the darkness below. It’s not until she fishes a flare out of her pack and drops it down the hole that she spots the form of the smaller girl laying in a bed of flowers, slowly getting up.

“May!”

The younger looked up at her name, craning to see the older girl’s head silhouetted in the moonlight.

“Are you alright?”

“Bruised and sore, maybe, but I think I’m okay.”

“Do you see a way out?”

May picked up the flare and looked around her, trying to make out her surroundings in the dim light of the hissing item in her hand.

“I see a passage, but it looks like it leads further into the mountain. Do you think the others will look this far up?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. But we have to assume they will.”

“I don’t think anyone knows this is here. And even if they find it, I don’t think they’d explore it. Everyone else is really scared of this place. Maybe we should follow it and see if it goes to the other side. Can you find a way down?”

The older girl leaned back and looked around her. She’s lost sight of the lights of the search parties and can’t hear their voices, but can’t make out another way to the smaller girl from what little she can see around her. Finally she leaned back over the hole.

“I think this spot is the only way down there. Hang on, I’ll jump down. Make sure I don’t hit you, alright?”

The younger girl confirmed, standing well clear of the patch of flowers she landed in on her way down. The taller stood, steeled herself, then leapt feet first into the hole. Relying on her instincts and reflexes, she twisted herself so that she rolled when she landed, minimizing the damage on impact, and gracefully bounced to her feet. May approached the taller girl with a look of awe on her face, holding out the flare for her to take.

“That was so cool, June,” she smiled, “You’ve gotta teach me how to do stuff like that.”

The taller girl returned the smile, taking the flare from the younger and giving her head a gentle, loving shake.

“When you’re a little older. For now, we should keep moving. Come on, sis.”

June straightened her arm to hold the flare a little out and above them, trying to illuminate as much as possible. The eerie silence that clung to the shadows, the muted red glow of the flare in front of her, the sense that something lurked in the shadows, waiting for them…she had a bad feeling about this, but since going back meant facing the crowd of searchers and getting caught, the best way out was forward.

“Stay close to me. Something’s not right about this place…”

But as she said this, the sisters turned a corner and spotted a large flower sitting at the edge of their pool of light, swaying gently in the small breeze that wafted by. May glanced up at June with a skeptical look.

“You got a bad feeling from a flower.”

June gave her a scathing look, which May ignored as she moved around her sister to get a closer look at the flower.

“Actually, it’s kind of pretty,” she said with a smile, bending to look at it. “Wonder how it got down here…”

“Howdy! I was just in the area and decided to pop up,” the flower replied, opening its eyes and looking up at May. The younger girl straightened with a gasp of surprise, her sister’s dark green eyes going wide.

“It talks!” May exclaimed.

“It? Well that’s awfully rude! My _name _is Flowey. Flowey the Flower,” the little yellow plant squeaked indignantly.__

“Oh! I’m sorry. It’s just…I’ve never had a flower talk to me before,” the younger girl replied, sitting on her knees before Flowey and pushing back her hood. “My name’s May. I’m sorry I offended you. It’s nice to meet you.”

“May, don’t say another word to that thing,” June insisted, staying back from the talking plant. She sensed something was off the second she saw Flowey and wasn’t going to trust him one bit. May, however, stayed right where she was, turning to look over her shoulder at her sister.

“Why? I know it’s unusual for flowers to talk, but…well, weirder things have happened to us already. I’m sorry about my sister. She’s just really protective. And she’s not used to talking flowers either!” May added with a sweet little laugh.

Flowey smiled at the little girl’s giggle while June frowned more, preparing to hurl the flare at the plant if she needed to.

“You must be new to the Underground if you’re not used to seeing monsters like me. Someone ought to show you how things work down here. I guess little old me will have to do.”

Flowey paused. Suddenly, May gasped as a small heart came out of her, glowing a gentle green, a shield materializing in front of it. June’s raised arm lowered a bit involuntarily.

“What the-”

Then she gasped, May whipping around to see a similar heart being drawn out of her sister. As it fell to the ground, blue and orange swirled around each other in June’s, as if someone were trying to mix oil and water. June stared at the twin hearts pulsing between the girls and the flower.

“What the fuck?” she practically shouted.

“Those little hearts are your SOULS. They’re pretty weak right now, but as you gain LV, they get stronger.”

“What’s that stand for?”

“…Why, LOVE, of course. You want some LOVE, right?”

May nodded enthusiastically.

“Then I’ll give you some!”

Flowey winked, and like magic, several little glowing dots appeared around him. May’s eyes were practically saucers as she stared at them.

“What are _those _?”__

“They’re…‘friendliness pellets,’” the flower replied, its tone making June’s eyes narrow even more. She held up the flare defiantly in the background as the plant continued to talk, focusing on her sister. “You want to collect lots of them so you get lots of LOVE. Are you ready?”

May nodded, mesmerized by the little pellets. Flowey grinned and moved them towards her Soul.

“Then here you go! Try to catch them!”

The little girl reached out, the shield in front of her little green heart moving out of the way to catch one of the pellets, but –

“May, no!”

June darted forward, grabbing her sister and yanking her back, her own orange-and-blue heart jumping in the way just in time to collide with a pellet. The older girl grunted in pain, letting go of her sister. The little girl gaped at Flowey, hurt and betrayed. His face morphed into something much more monstrous and evil, and when he spoke this time, his voice was darker and more ominous.

“Ha! I can’t believe you fell for that sweet and innocent crap. It’s kill or be killed down here, idiots. DIE.”

Then Flowey summoned a ring of the bullets around the sisters’ Souls which rapidly began to close, cornering them together while he laughed manically. June drew her arm back, about to launch her flare at the evil plant, when the bullets suddenly disappeared. Then a fireball came in out of nowhere and sent the little weed flying into the shadows. June and May looked in surprise at their savior as they stepped into the light.

“Are you alright, my children?” asked the creature standing before them in a gentle, motherly voice. She appeared to be some sort of animal fusion, but looked mostly like a goat, and wore a purple dress with something that appeared to be a large crest emblazoned on the front. The girls stared in shocked silence for a bit, June never taking her eyes off the goat-woman-thing as she helped her sister to her feet. May was the first to find her voice.

“We’re fine. Thanks for helping us.”

The goat-woman-thing smiled at May, pleased.

“I am glad to hear you are unharmed. My name is Toriel. I am the keeper of the Ruins.”

“I’m–”

“Don’t,” June urged softly, tightening her grip on her sister’s arm slightly. She would have been wary of Toriel anyway, but with what just happened with Flowey, she was understandably more cautious than before. She still held the flare as if she were ready to throw it.

Again, May resisted her sister’s attempts at caution, pulling her arm out of June’s grip with an annoyed look.

“She helped us. If she wanted to hurt us, she probably would have done it by now,” the younger girl hissed, “Or she would have let Flowey do it. You’ve gotta trust somebody, June.”

“The only person I’m going to trust until we get out of here is you. Besides, how do you know she isn’t trying to lull us into a false sense of security? How do you know she won’t attack us?”

“ _I don’t_ , but at least _I_ have faith that there’s good in everyone, rather than thinking that everything strange and new is out to _kill me_.”

June had no argument to that, but made a face anyway and backed off. May turned back to Toriel.

“Sorry about that. Like I was saying, I’m May, and this is my sister June.”


	2. Goat-Momma is Suspicious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> S- Hey guys! So, I know we said the schedule was for Fridays, but this chapter is coming at you early because my work schedule specifically conflicted for us posting on Friday. So instead, take a chapter a day early! ~<3 Okayhavefunbye!!
> 
> B- We also just couldn't wait to get this chapter out to you, these first few are shorter but it'll start to pick up soon, I promise! Hope y'all enjoy, and chat with ya next chapter.

June followed quietly along behind May and Toriel, wishing to be anywhere but… well, wherever they were. May chatted happily with the goat-woman, and she smiled and chatted right back. She was friendly enough to the younger girl, but every so often, June would catch her peeking over her shoulder at the older with a wary expression. June would meet her gaze with an unemotional look of her own, but it only seemed to make it worse.

It wasn’t until her flare from earlier went out that she stopped to throw away the spent light, having not needed it beyond that first chamber with the demonic weed anyway.

“Where are we, anyway?” the tall girl finally asked, the first thing she’d said since they began walking with Toriel. The goat-woman turned and stopped, seeing that June wasn’t going to move until she got an answer.

“The Ruins. As I mentioned, I am the keeper of the Ruins.”

“Yeah, you did say that. The ruins of what, exactly?” June asked tilting her head to the side and crossing her arms in front of her chest. Toriel folded her hands together.

“Once, it was called Home. Now, it is just the Ruins.”

June raised a critical eyebrow.

“So…you guys used to live here, and you called it ‘Home’.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” Toriel smiled, laughing a little as she spoke. “Our king is not the best when it comes to naming things.”

June nodded slowly, with a “gee, you think?” look on her face. May rolled her eyes at her sister.

“So remind me why we’re following you through these ruins again?”

“June.”

“What? We have a right to know.”

“Please, my children,” Toriel interrupted gently, looking between the sisters with a worried expression. June narrowed her eyes sharply at the goat-woman.

“Stop calling us that.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“We’re not your kids,” she bristled at the monster, green eyes flashing angrily. “Stop calling us your children.”

“June!” May gaped at her sister, “You’re being so mean and rude!”

“It’s the truth. She needs to stop.”

“If _you_ want her not to call you that, fine. But _I_ don’t mind, so if she wants to, let her call me that. Either way, you could have asked her nicely to stop, instead of being such a jerk about it.”

June was a bit floored her sister was siding with Toriel and not her, but rather than show how much it hurt, she flicked some of her long jet black hair over her shoulder in annoyance.

“Whatever. Let’s just go. We need to keep moving.”

May glared at her sister, but turned around and started walking again. Toriel walked with her, but seemed even warier of June than before. As they walked, Toriel explained about the puzzles littering the ruins and how to work them. June sulked while May happily flipped switches and followed Toriel. When Toriel explained about fighting with other monsters, June quit sulking and listened, but instantly became disinterested again when the goat-woman said she would come protect them should something happen. May was a little distraught and disappointed when Toriel suddenly ran off, leaving the sisters by themselves in a really long hall. June, completely unsurprised by the monster’s behavior, just came to stand by her sister’s side and wrapped an arm around her.

“It’s alright, May. Let her go. It’s not like we could rely on her forever.”

May, looking dejected, nodded with a sigh, quickly getting over it. While the girls walked the length of the hallway they were in, they talked.

“Is it weird that I miss her already?”

“Not really. I mean, I may not have trusted her, but she was decent to you, so I get you getting attached and all.”

“It’s not like she was so bad to you, you know.”

June hesitated before speaking.

“I know. I’m just…”

“After Mom and Dad, you don’t really trust anyone. Not even me sometimes.”

June glanced over at her sister, feeling a tug on her heartstrings at the sad notes in May’s voice.

“I trust you,” she replied, walking a little closer to the younger girl. “It’s me I don’t trust. You know that.”

There was a paused before May spoke, the sadness in her voice much clearer this time, despite the almost whisper she spoke in.

“…I know.”

As they were about to exit the room, Toriel jumped out from behind a pillar, revealing that she had been there the whole time and had been testing the girls’ independence. (Here, the sisters glanced at each other, both thinking it wasn’t much of a test of independence when both sisters were present.) The goat-woman claimed to need to leave them alone while she took care of something, and insisted they stay put. She even gave May a cell phone, saying to call her if they needed anything.

As Toriel started to leave, June reached out to her, taking her arm and leading her away from May for a second.

“Listen, Toriel…” June said in a low whisper, “I know I haven’t been exactly… friendly. I…I’m not sure how much of us talking you heard, but…I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be such a grouch. I’m just trying to look after May. She means a lot to me, and…truth be told, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her. So I’m…overprotective to an extreme sometimes. Point is, while I may not trust you yet…she does. And I need to take a hint from her and be a little more open to others. So I’m sorry for the way I acted. Just don’t make a big deal out of me apologizing, alright? Last thing I need is an ‘I told you so’ from May.”

Toriel looked stunned by the girl’s words, but by the end was trying to restrain a happy grin. Or, what seemed to be a happy grin. It was hard for the ravenette to tell.

“I will not say a thing,” the goat-woman smiled secretively, turning away to leave. When she was out of earshot, May turned to her sister.

“What did you say to her?”

June paused, considering whether or not to tell her sister she had swallowed her pride and apologized.

“None-ya,” she replied instead, sticking out her tongue playfully. May’s little pixie face scrunched up in annoyance, her older sister laughing whole-heartedly. Finally, June’s laughter died down and she waved her sister towards the exit of the room.

“Come on. Let’s get moving.”

“But Toriel said to stay here,” the little girl frowned.

Now June was serious again, her humor having gone as quickly as it had come.

“We’re on the lam, sis. We can’t afford to stand around and wait for her. For all we know, the search parties have found the hole we came in through and are on their way here right now.”

May paled a little, her ice-blue eyes going wide with the knowledge of what would happen if they were caught. She darted forward and hugged her sister tightly, burying her face in the older girl’s side.

“You’re right,” she answered softly, her voice muffled by June’s side. “We should go.”

June felt bad for scaring her sister and pulled May off of her, kneeling down to look the little girl in the eye when she lifted the girl’s face with one delicate finger. She gave her sister a gentle, reassuring smile before brushing some of May’s long silky dark hair back behind her ear.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you. And as long as I’m here with you, they can’t touch us. Remember that.”

The little girl nodded and hugged the tall girl again, this time getting a warm and loving hug in return. June then stood and offered her sister her hand. May smiled and took it, squeezing gently as they sisters set off deeper into the Ruins.


	3. Story Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is late, guys! So, remember how I said my work schedule conflicted with the posting schedule last week? Well, we had the same problem this week, but this time, we weren't able to get together and get the chapter out early...obviously. So again, sorry that this one's late! But here it is anyway! Enjoy, lovelies! ~<3 -S

As June and May finally made their way into the last chamber, they spotted Toriel dialing on her phone with a worried expression, only to turn as she walked and see them coming. Hanging up, she rushed over. June had to resist the urge to step in front of her sister and stop Toriel from grabbing the little girl.

“There you are, my children! Are you hurt? I am so sorry. I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible of me; I should not have been trying to surprise you like this, I–”

Suddenly, the monster cuts herself off, realizing she’d said too much. May’s eyebrows raise in surprise, glancing at the older for a reaction. June had at first glared when the goat woman slipped and called them both her children instead of just May, but her annoyance gave way to surprise, same as her sister. Her gaze flickered to May long enough to catch the little girl’s surprise before connecting with Toriel again.

“Well, I suppose there is no hiding it now,” Toriel continued with a smile, “Come this way, please.”

She turned and headed further into the chamber, only stopping to see if the girls were following her. They glanced at each other, trying to wrack their brains for clues to the surprise Toriel thought she had given away.

*****

After having left that first chamber where Toriel had parted with them, she had called to check on them. Once they hung up with her, they proceeded deeper, hoping to find a way through on their own. Along the way, they ran into several monsters. June had no issue with fighting them, but May insisted on trying more peaceful means first. The older ravenette had been hesitant at first, but reluctantly agreed to let the younger girl try it her way. Each time, they had been able to talk their way out of the fight and show mercy to the monsters, much to the taller girl’s surprise. Some of the frog-like creatures they came across didn’t attack them, but rather, seemed to talk to them. May stopped to chat with them, learning that they were called Froggits, and they had useful tips for the girls’ journey. June had been skeptical, but when the tips they got from the frog-monsters turned out to be good, she changed her tune. Then there was the ghost blocking their path that pretended to be snoring.

“I don’t think it’s actually asleep…” May said to her sister, a confused and concerned look on her face, not sure what to do to get the ghost to move. June sighed.

“Let me try something then.”

When she went to forcibly move the monster/ghost, it fought back…barely. Feeling bad for it, May tried cheering up the ghost. With enough kind words and cheering, the ghost – Napstablook, they found out – moved for them, calling them friends. June congratulated her sister on a job well done before they moved on.

The monsters were the biggest challenge, the puzzles easy to solve when the sisters worked together. The only puzzles that gave them any trouble were the ones that dropped them through holes in the floor onto piles of leaves (which May wanted to play in, thus distracting them), and one were they had to move boulders onto switches in the floor. May wasn’t strong enough to move the boulders alone, so June had her step aside and pushed them into place herself. But when the tall girl put her hands on the last boulder to move it –

“HEY! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

The older girl let out a startled yell, jumping so violently, she fell and landed on her ass. Her sister laughed while the living rock chastised her for trying to make it move. When May finally got her laughing under control, she looked over at June, amusement still dancing in her icy eyes.

“Let me try.”

She then stepped up to the rock and said in her sweetest and most charming voice, “Excuse me. I was wondering if you would scoot over for me? Please and thank you?”

“Sure thing, darlin’,” the boulder replied, scooting along the ground on its own a bit. But, since it wasn’t on the switch, they still couldn’t get out. June got up, ready to try to make the rock move if she had to, but her sister stopped her.

“Excuse me.”

“HMM?”

“I was wondering if you would please move over a little more?”

“Okay, darlin’.”

And the girls watched as it scooted some more – but this time, in the wrong direction. June groaned and face-palmed while May giggled.

“Excuse me.”

“HMM?”

“Would you please move back the other way?”

“Oh, that was the wrong direction? Okay, I think I see what you’re getting at.”

And the rock scooted over on top of the switch. With the spikes out of the way, the girls started to leave, but just before they could cross the trap, the rock moved off the switch. June, thoroughly annoyed, started to march over and give the boulder an earful, but again, her sister stopped her.

“Um, excuse me.”

“HMM?”

“I have one last thing to ask. Would you please stay on the switch for us?”

“Boy, you two sure are giving me a workout!”

As much as it may have complained, this time, it stayed on the switch. May thanked it as they left, and after the girls, it called out, “Isn’t it amazing the things you can accomplish when you ask nicely?” June marched out of the chamber fuming, her guffawing sister on her heels.

Other than the encounter with Napstablook and the talking rock, the only other things of note on their journey through the Ruins were the spider bake sale (June really didn’t understand that one, but let her sister buy the “spider doughnut” and the “spider cider” anyway), and the occasional call from Toriel.

*****

The only thing the girls could think of that had any hint of what the monster had been planning was the question of if they liked butterscotch or cinnamon better. May, having the stronger sweet tooth, responded with butterscotch. June didn’t care much, but out of the two, she preferred cinnamon. However, as strange as the question had seemed, they hadn’t thought much of it at the time, and wondered what kind of surprise the goat-woman had in mind.

Hesitantly following her, the girls made their way up to a cute little house at the back of the chamber and went in. They were pleasantly surprised by how warm and cozy it was. Toriel explained that it was her home, and the delicious smell in the air was a butterscotch-cinnamon pie she was baking just for them. She then directed them to a small bedroom they could share and hurried away, thinking she smelled something burning.

June, in light of all this, found herself thinking about how badly she had misjudged Toriel when they first met. May was just happy to have a place to rest, barely exploring the room before putting down her pack and climbing into the bed. The little girl was asleep almost instantly. June, however, was wide awake. Rather than hang around the room with her sleeping sister, she pecked the younger ravenette on the forehead and left the room, electing to go find Toriel and stay up with her instead. Finding her in the kitchen with her pie, June leaned in the doorway and cleared her throat, letting the goat-woman know she was there.

“Oh! Were you not tired, my dear?” Toriel asked, putting the pie down to cool.

“Not really. Long trips like this don’t really get to me. Besides, I have insomnia. Couldn’t sleep well if I wanted to.”

“Ah. That is unfortunate. How is your sister doing?”

“She’s back in the room. Poor thing was so tired, she passed out the second she got into bed,” June added with a small laugh, running a hand through her hair.

“She does not suffer from the same insomnia you do, then. That is good.”

“Yeah. And her stamina is a lot lower than mine, too. Besides that, we _did_ kind of run off in the middle of the night, so it’s understandable that she’s exhausted.”

“I see,” Toriel replied, hesitating before speaking again. “If you do not mind my asking, what is it you two were running from?”

June paused, weighing in her mind if she wanted to tell Toriel or not. Finally, she closed her eyes and sighed, thinking that someone ought to know their situation.

“Our home,” she replied, keeping her eyes downcast. For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to meet the goat-woman’s eyes as she spoke.

“Our dad died when we were little, which left our mom to look after us. Only, she wasn’t very good at it. It was better than when our dad was alive, mind you, but it was still pretty bad. More often than not, I had to take care of myself _and_ raise my sister at the same time…because our mom kinda sucked at being a mom. Anyway, once I finally came of age, I decided enough was enough and tried to get custody of May. I knew it was a long shot, especially since I’m only eighteen, but…I had to try. For her. But I lost. The court ruled in Mom’s favor. I kinda saw it coming, but it still sucked. Thing is, I knew the second she got the chance after that, Mom was gonna file a restraining order on me, to try and keep me away from May. But she didn’t want that, and I knew I couldn’t let that happen. So before the court decided, I talked to May in private and we agreed: if Mom won, we’d pack up all the things we’d need to camp out in the wild and survive, and we’d run away together. That way, they’d never be able to separate us again. Thing is, I counted on us getting a day or two head start before they started looking for us. But I was wrong. They started looking for us a few hours after we set out. I don’t know how they knew, but they did. And now…”

June sighed, finally looking Toriel in the face, one hand knotted in her midnight locks.

“If we get caught, I’ll go to jail for kidnapping or worse, and May will be sent to live with Mom. And there won’t be a damn thing I can do. And you know, it’s not the thought of going to jail that scares me more – it’s the thought of what could happen to May if she stays with Mom.

“I didn’t want to drag her into trouble. She’s twelve. She’s just a kid. She still has a chance at a decent life. And yet, by dragging her through all this…” June hung her head. “I’m such a terrible person.”

“I disagree,” Toriel said softly, coming over to the girl. When June looked up, there was much weariness in her eyes. As young as she was, it was obvious that she had already endured many hardships. Her spirit was strong, giving her a much older and more mature air than that of a teenager. But the fact remained that she was still young herself, and she was straining under the responsibilities she had put on her own shoulders. Toriel had no doubt she could adjust, that she could learn to handle it, but…

“You are doing what you believe to be the best course of action. You saw no better alternative. It is understandable that you may doubt yourself. But you should not. Your actions are selfless, as you care only for your sister. She means much to you, and you would do anything to make sure she is safe and happy. I see that now. And I offer you this: both of you can stay here, with me, if you like. I can protect you, and make sure your sister is safe. With you by her side, I have no doubt she would be happy. And while life for humans among monsters would be challenging, it would not be impossible. And it would take some of the pressure off of you to raise her, as you and I could work together. What do you say?”

June listened quietly, struck by Toriel’s words. The goat-woman had been so cautious and fearful of the tall teen before, and now she was offering her home to the girls, and to help raise May. June wasn’t accustomed to such kindness except from her sister, and wasn’t sure how to take it.

“Wow. I…I’m touched, Toriel. Thank you. But I think…I need to talk it over with May first. See what she wants to do. But thank you again…you were so wary of me before…what changed?”

Toriel smiled gently, having become accustomed to the teen’s presence.

“I was wary because I sensed much hostility in you. I thought it was anger, hatred. I sensed the ease in which you tend towards violence. But your story, the way you are with your sister, how you care for her…I realized it was not anger or hatred I sensed. It was caution, the need to protect May. You would gladly lay down your life for her, would you not?”

“Without thinking twice,” June said firmly, nodding.

“And that is what I realized. What I sensed. What I saw. And though I will admit, I still sense something in you that concerns me, I am confident now that you are not the kind of person who is dangerous to others unless forced to be so. And those are not the makings of a terrible person; of that, I can assure you.”

June blinked rapidly a few times, fighting back the tears that came to her eyes. She was moved by Toriel’s words. There was finally someone besides May in the world who saw her as an actual person. She swallowed thickly, trying not to have a breakdown right there.

“Thanks, Toriel. That means a lot,” she managed past the lump in her throat. “I’m…I’m gonna go lie down. Try to get some rest.”

Toriel nodded, taking it in stride when the misty-eyed teen brushed by her and back to the bedroom. When she got back to the room, June shut the door and leaned against it, letting a tear or two slip out as she thought about Toriel’s words. When she finally got herself back together, she sighed, dropped her pack next to May’s on the floor and ditched the long travelling cloak she wore, climbing around her sister and into the bed. The little girl barely stirred, cuddling up next to June when she got settled. It wasn’t long before the older girl fell asleep too, eased by her sister’s presence and the warmth and coziness she felt all around her.


	4. Fight Fire with Mercy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look! This one's actually on time this week! All joking around aside, hopefully, we can keep up a more steady schedule now. (More my work schedule than conflicts with Book_Warrior7, but yeah...) Anyway, enjoy this chapter, guys! -S

When the girls woke up, they both found a slice of pie waiting for them. June smiled, grabbing something from their bags to wrap up the slices with and stowed them away, neither girl being particularly hungry. Then June helped a sleepy May get changed, tossing the smaller girl’s travelling cloak on top of her own. They wouldn’t need them in the Underground.

Once May was dressed, she waited for June to get changed, since she was more awake now. While June changed, she thought it a good time to talk to her sister, the last conversation she’d had with Toriel still fresh in her mind.

“Hey, May.”

“Hmm?”

“What would you think of staying here? With Toriel, I mean.”

The little girl’s eyes widened as she stared at the wall, giving her sister privacy to change.

“What brought this on? I thought you didn’t like her.”

“I have no problems with Toriel. I just didn’t trust her. And…I talked to her last night, and she…some of the stuff she said really hit home for me. She offered to let us live with her. I haven’t really thought through the pros and cons yet, but since it involved you,” she continued, pulling on a pair of cargo pants, “I wanted to ask what you wanted to do.”

May bit her lip, thinking about it. True enough, the tiny ravenette liked Toriel, but she wasn’t sure about living with the monster.

“I…I dunno, June. You always look at things so rationally. How would you decide?”

“Well,” she said slowly, “I’d start by making a list of all the bad things about if I chose to do it. Once I have that list, I’d make a list of good things that would come out of it. Then think about how much you value each item on the lists. Rate them on a scale of one to ten. Whichever side has the more points of value makes the choice.”

May nodded, a look of concentration on her face as she fished a pad and pencil out of her sister’s pack. She then labeled the top of the page “cons” and made a bullet point for it.

“Okay. Then let’s start. What’s something bad about living with Toriel?”

“We wouldn’t eat the same foods. Monster food is different than human food. We could still eat it, but…not without some, I don’t know, side effects? Consequences? However you wanna phrase that one.”

“Okay…‘different foods’. What else?”

“We would need to consider your school. You’d still have to go, monster school or not.”

May made a face, but made a note of it anyway.

“Toriel mentioned life for humans among monsters wouldn’t be easy. Whatever that means. And getting you new clothes would probably be a challenge.”

“Couldn’t I just take your hand-me-downs?”

“We have no way of knowing if you’d fit them. And that means I’d have to get new clothes. Any way you look at it, it’s an issue.”

“Okay, got it. What else?”

“Eventually, we’d outgrow this one room. I’d probably have to help Toriel finish renovating the room on the other side of hers.”

May nodded, adding some notes for June that she would never have mentioned herself.

“Hmm…the only other thing I can think of is if, by some twist of un-luck, the searchers get brave enough to come down here. We’d lead them right to Toriel, and that’d open up a whole ‘nother can of worms that’d probably fill up the rest of that page you’re working on.”

May unconsciously gripped the pencil tighter, thinking of all the things that would happen if the girls were caught, only then thinking of how much trouble it’d cause for Toriel and the other monsters because of the two fugitive girls.

“…I’ll mark that one down as ‘fugitives’.”

June grunted her approval, finishing tying her black high-topped combat boots. She got up from the edge of the bed and gave a slow turn, letting her sister examine the outfit. The little girl tilted her head, her bangs almost falling into her face. She then dug around in her own clothes and found what she was looking for: a sand colored half-jacket with short puffed sleeves, the color matching the teen’s cargo pants. June looked skeptical when her sister tossed it to her.

“I took it from Mom’s closet, but it’s too big on me. I thought I’d grow into it,” she shrugged.

June looked even more dubious, but shrugged and tried it on. To her surprise, it was a perfect fit, and the dual light colors contrasted her jungle-green tank top nicely. She then held out her arms for her sister to examine the outfit again.

“I think you should do something with your hair,” May replied, twirling the end of her own French-braid. June paused, then found a hair band and shook out her long hair, pulling it up into a high ponytail with her hands. May nodded when the tall ravenette straightened.

“Better.”

June smiled and sat at the edge of the bed again, getting out her compact mirror and makeup.

“Okay,” she added, sweeping her bangs aside so she could apply her eyeliner, “so unless you have anything else to add, that should do it for the list of cons.”

May gave her list a once over, curling a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Mm…nope, I think that does it. So the good things next.”

“Yep.”

“Well, we’d have shelter. Somewhere warm and dry and safe to come back to,” May suggested. June nodded, pausing long enough to complete the motion as she put on her mascara.

“And we’d be sure to have food. I mean, we’d have to pay her back somehow, but I don’t think Toriel would let us go hungry.”

“That’s true.”

“We’d have someone to look after us. Like, it wouldn’t be just the two of us looking out for each other. Toriel would have our backs, too.”

June stayed silent, thinking of Toriel’s look that sent other monsters scurrying in fright.

“Yeah. That’s a good one.”

May nodded, smiling proudly as she wrote down “Toriel = safe” on the list.

“What else can you think of?”

The older girl paused, then motioned for the pad and pen, scribbling down a few things she thought were bonuses that May wouldn’t have added. Then she handed it back.

“There. And I saw what you added under cons. I’m not overly concerned with finding love, you know.”

“ _You_ might not be, but _I_ for one, think it’d be nice if you could find someone who makes you happy. I know you deserve it.”

June felt the familiar tug on her heartstrings at May’s earnest smile, touched by her sister’s concern for her happiness. She sighed, setting aside her makeup since she was finished with it, and swept her sister into a hug.

“You’re too sweet, you know that?” she murmured.

May giggled, smiling broadly.

“I can’t breathe,” she replied, her voice mostly muffled by the older girl’s breasts. June grinned, chuckling while she relaxed her grip, letting the smaller girl squirm out of the hug.

“We should get back on task,” June sighed, letting her laughter fade out. May nodded, picking the list back up.

“Now we assign values to everything, right? One to ten?”

“Yep.”

“We’d probably value all this stuff differently…I’ll write down my values for everything, then let you do it,” the smaller ravenette added, getting started. June nodded, putting away her makeup and getting something out to blot her blood-red lipstick on. It took a couple minutes, but May finished evaluating both the pros and cons, giving the list one last once over before handing it to her sister. June repeated the process, May getting into her stash of dried fruit she’d packed while she waited.

Once June finished writing down her own values for everything, she tallied them up. Though close, since both girls highly valued the things on the pros side, the cons won out. The fugitive angle was too powerful a motivator for both, it seemed. June shared the results with May, who frowned.

“Well…I guess that settles it.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

“But I thought you said…”

“I know. But just because that’s the way I decide things doesn’t mean it’s how we have to do it. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to, May. So if you don’t want to leave, you don’t have to.”

“What about you?”

“Where you go, I go. If you stay, so do I. That simple.”

May’s brow furrowed, fiddling with the edge of her bright purple top absent-mindedly.

“Well…” she finally replied slowly, “I _like_ Toriel, but…I don’t wanna cause her trouble. And if they do come looking for us down here…”

June nodded, stopping her sister’s trailing words.

“Say no more. We can go talk to Toriel whenever you’re ready. Hopefully, she won’t be too disappointed and she’ll point us to the way out of here.”

May nodded, frowning. She clearly didn’t want to leave Toriel behind, but she understood it was for the best. The little girl hopped off the bed, scooped up her pack, and looked up at her sister.

“Let’s hurry up and go. If she _is_ upset, I wanna get it over with quickly.”

June nodded, shouldering her own bag with ease.

“Right. Like taking off a Band-Aid. Let’s do this,” she added with a sigh.

The girls then went and found Toriel reading by the fire, almost as if she were waiting for them to get up. May looked like she was going to change her mind from worrying about hurting Toriel’s feelings, so June spoke up first.

“Hey, Toriel.”

“Hello, girls. Did you sleep well?”

“Uh, yeah. Listen, I’m gonna get right to the point. We talked it over, and…we decided it’d be better if we moved on.”

Toriel looked at them in surprise, her cheerful demeanor faltering.

“Are you sure you do not wish to stay? I have many wonderful books you can read on monster history, or ones like this,” she added, her voice sounding high strung and stressed. “Would you like to hear something from the book I am reading now?”

The girls glanced between themselves.

“Um, n-no thank you, Toriel,” May stammered, making herself say something to the kindly goat-woman. “We-we appreciate what you’ve already done for us. Really, we do. B-but…”

“But it’d be better and safer for everyone if we just moved on. I’m sorry, Toriel. We both are. All we ask is one last favor. If you would show us the way out, or even just point us in the right direction, we’ll get out of your hair for good.”

Toriel looked pretty upset – but more than anything, she looked scared. She suddenly got up, putting her book aside and said, “I must go.” Then she rushed away, past the sisters and out of sight.

“Oh…I…I think we hurt her feelings…” May said, her voice full of guilt. June glanced over at her sister, her expression a troubled one. To the older girl, Toriel’s behavior wasn’t that of wounded feelings. Her expression changing to a suspicious one, June took her sister’s hand and started checking the house for where Toriel had gone.

Realizing the only place they hadn’t explored when they couldn’t find the goat-woman was downstairs, June marched that direction, May following hesitantly behind.

It didn’t take them long to catch up to Toriel.

“There is a door at the end of this passage that leads to the rest of the Underground. I am going to destroy it. Please, both of you, go back upstairs,” she pleaded without turning to face them before running off again. June stared after Toriel, and when May looked up at her sister, her own concern deepened.

“I know that look. You’re not going to listen to her, are you?”

The teen snorted defiantly. May had to almost jog to keep up with the older girl’s long strides as she pursued the goat-woman. Again, they caught up to her.

“I have seen it so many times. Humans fall. They come. They go. They die. The other monsters will kill you if they get the chance. And Asgore…” Toriel said darkly, pausing before adding a firm, “Go to your room, girls.”

Again, she rushed ahead of them. June’s fierce green eyes flashed, as if Toriel had issued a challenge that she was unwilling to back down from. May started to look scared and grabbed her sister’s arm, throwing her weight into pulling her back.

“Maybe we should go back and do as she says.”

“Like hell we will,” June replied, pulling free of her sister’s hold and turning to the little girl. “You heard her. She’s gonna destroy our way outta here! We’ve made our decision. We need to stop her. She can’t keep us here against our will.”

May hesitated, letting her sister get a few steps away before latching onto her hand again.

“Wait! I…I understand. I just…whatever happens, don’t hurt her, okay? I don’t want you guys to fight, but if it comes to that, just don’t hurt her.”

June looked hard at her sister, not wanting to make a promise she wasn’t sure she could keep. But the longer she looked at May’s sad, pitiful, pleading puppy-dog face, the more she felt her defenses crumbling. Finally she sighed, running a hand across her ponytail.

“Fine. But if she starts threatening you…”

“I know. All bets are off. Thanks, June,” the smaller girl smiled faintly, the puppy look not quite erased from her features. June sighed again.

“Let’s just hope she’ll listen to reason…” the taller girl muttered, stalking off after Toriel again. May was right on her heels.

Then they caught up to Toriel one last time. The monster-woman stood in front of a large door, her back to the girls. It was clear she knew they were there, however.

“So you insist on leaving,” she said softly, calmly. “Even knowing you are likely to die if you do. If you really want to leave…then prove to me that you can fight. Prove to me you can protect yourselves if I let you go.”

Now Toriel turned to face them, her expression resolute, fiercely blocking the way. Both girls gasped as their Souls were drawn out of them again, June understanding exactly what this meant. She growled warningly, but didn’t make a move against the goat-woman. She chose to act instead.

“Don’t do this, Toriel,” she said darkly, taking a defensive stance. “I don’t want to fight you.”

May stayed silent, watching the two taller figures prepare to trade blows, her heart floating in the air above June’s.

Toriel made the first move, launching fire attacks at them. June expertly dodged, luring them away from May. The little girl couldn’t bring herself to move, her feet feeling like lead beneath her. This turned out not to be such a bad thing, as June held the goat woman’s attention, using her gymnastics skills to flip, jump, and twist her way out of the path of the oncoming attacks. Each time she got a chance, the older girl tried to reason with Toriel, talking to the monster to no avail. Then things went from bad to worse.

June, having mostly forgotten about her exposed Soul, misjudged one of her moves, her little blue-and-orange heart taking a heavy hit. The older girl grunted in pain, missing her landing and collapsing on the ground. May’s hands flew to her mouth as she gasped, her eyes as big as saucers. It took a second, but June got back up, panting heavily. It was clear she was injured, but she wasn’t going to back down just yet.

“You can’t keep us here, Toriel. It isn’t right! You can’t take away someone’s freedom just because you think you’re protecting them!”

Clearly June’s dogged determination was wearing on the monster, as she looked like she didn’t enjoy seeing the girl in such pain. It was obvious that June could have taken Toriel out if she had wanted to. She was skilled enough that it wouldn’t have been hard. But her promise to her sister stayed her hand. The repeated process of talking to Toriel and sparing her was having an effect, but not enough it seemed. Still, Toriel attacked. And injured as she was, June did her best to keep dodging. But it wasn’t enough, as she took hit after hit, getting knocked down and injured further with each blow.

June was on her hands and knees before the monster, staying between Toriel and her sister. Slowly, painfully, she staggered to her feet again, her whole body shaking with the effort.

“What are you doing?” Toriel finally asked.

“I won’t…fight you,” June insisted, wincing.

“Why will you not attack? Fight back!”

“No.”

“Fight back!”

“No!”

“It is the only way out of this! Fight back!”

“No! I won’t fight you, dammit!”

“Why not?” Toriel finally demanded.

“Because I promised her I wouldn’t hurt you, no matter what!” June practically shouted, finally falling back to her knees, unable to stand any more. There was silence as she paused, catching her breath before looking back up at Toriel.

“I promised her. And I never promise anything unless I’m sure I can keep it. So when I do give my word…I keep it, dammit. I won’t hurt you, Toriel. I won’t fight you.”

Toriel looked taken aback, glancing over at the younger ravenette. The little girl was in tears, biting her lip hard from the effort of keeping quiet the whole time. It was clear she just wanted the fighting to stop. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt. And as much as it may have pained Toriel, looking at the small girl, she knew what she had to do. She readied another attack. May’s eyes widened, knowing her sister was in no shape to dodge it, and that she wouldn’t fight back. As Toriel launched the attack, it was as if whatever had been gluing May to her spot on the floor suddenly disappeared, and she screamed as she raced forward, skidding to a stop in front of her sister.

“ _NO! STOP IT!_ ”

“ _MAY!_ ”

Then the smoke cleared from fire attack, and to both Toriel’s and June’s shock, May still stood exactly where she was, the shield protecting her Soul having stopped the blow from harming either sister. May barely seemed to notice.

“Toriel, stop this! Please! She can’t take any more! And we don’t even want to fight! We just want to make sure no other humans follow us here! That’s why we’re leaving! We ran away from a bad situation at home, and the people following us wanna take us back there! Us staying here and bringing them to you isn’t going to do anyone any good! And besides, if we stayed, I’d have to grow up here – and as selfish as it sounds, I don’t wanna grow up underground. I wanna see the stars! I wanna feel wind in my hair, and rain and sun on my skin! I wanna see the sky, and hear the birds, and, and…and if you kill June, I’ll be all alone, and I really _will_ die out there. But if you let us leave together, she’ll protect me. She’s a lot stronger than me, and a lot smarter. She’d know when someone’s trying to hurt us for real instead of pretending, or when it’s okay to eat something new, or what to do when I get scared or lost or stuck. She’s my big sister. She takes care of me. Even now, when she’s letting herself get hurt, it’s because of me. _For_ me. And I’ve seen her get hurt enough because of me! So please, just stop! We don’t wanna fight you anymore! Please!” the little girl cried, finally breaking down into almost hysteric sobs.

Finally, it was enough. May had broken the last wall that Toriel had. She let herself be spared and stopped attacking.

“You are right,” the monster said in a soft voice, stepping forward and kneeling to wipe away the girl’s tears. “I wanted nothing more than to protect you, but it would not do to have you grow up here. You do not belong, and it would do no good to keep you here. I am sorry…both of you.”

The fight over, June found she had enough energy now to get up, standing just behind May, who was still crying and hiccupping softly. Toriel looked at them both, gently touching their faces.

“I will let you pass. But after you go…please promise me one thing. Promise me you will not return here.”

June looked in Toriel’s eyes as she made her request, and oddly, felt no malice towards the other. All she felt was a pang of sadness at their parting. She gently took the goat-woman’s hand and nodded in understanding.

“I give you my word, Toriel. I will never set foot here again.”

May sniffed forlornly, but nodded as well, pawing at her eyes. Toriel smiled sadly at them both, then wrapped them both in a tight hug. Though not overly affectionate, June went so far as to hug the goat-woman back, burying her face in Toriel’s shoulder.

“Be good, my children,” Toriel whispered to them before finally letting them go. When she did, she rushed back towards her house, not turning back once.

The sisters stood there a moment, watching her go. May felt as if she were going to cry again, and took June’s hand, leaning on her for support. June glanced down at the smaller ravenette, squeezing her hand gently before turning around to face the exit of the Ruins.

“Come on, sis,” she said, her voice barely audible. “One foot in front of the other. Like you said, as long as we have each other…we’ll be fine.”

Though half-hearted, May knew June’s words were true. She sniffed sadly, clinging to her sister with a nod. They forced themselves not to look back as they crossed through the door, it closing solidly behind them.


	5. All the Puns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Singing_Dream here! So this one's gonna be early, as I wasn't sure I'd have time to get this one posted before going to work tomorrow. Ugh, having a conflicting work schedule sucks! But on the plus side, from here on out, that shouldn't be as much of a problem (hopefully). Anyway, enjoy this early chapter! See you guys! -S

Having ignored Flowey as they passed him, the girls hadn’t taken more than a few steps into the frozen forest area when June stopped, flopping down at the base of a random tree to rest.

“You okay, sis?” May asked, shuffling over to the older ravenette. June looked wearily up at the younger.

“I’m just beat from that fight. Toriel may not look it, but she really packs some heat.”

“Wow. That’s saying something, coming from you...ohmygod, you just punned, didn’t you?”

June chuckled tiredly. May shook her head with a smile and put down her pack, sitting in the snow next to her sister and leaning on her for comfort. They sat in silence a bit before June looked down at the smaller girl starting to shiver against her.

“Guess we should have kept the cloaks after all.”

May made a non-committal noise, cuddling in closer.

“Are you still worn out?” she asked, looking up at the taller girl. June leaned back a bit against the tree.

“Yeah,” she sighed, “It could be a while before I’m in top form again.”

“Well…you might also be tired ‘cause you haven’t eaten anything yet today.”

June paused, realizing the little girl was right. She leveled a look at her sister, who leaned away to look in her bag for something.

“Before you get on to me for not eating, I had some fruit back at Toriel’s…but I’ll eat more if you will,” May said, pulling a pair of doughnuts out of her bag and offering one to her sister. June gave the confection a skeptical look, recognizing it.

“Isn’t that one of the…Spider Doughnuts or whatever you bought yesterday?”

“Yeah. I bought a few. With all the money the monsters were giving us when we spared them, I had enough. What’s with the look?”

“It’s monster food, May.”

“So?”

“We don’t know how eating monster food will affect us. Especially if it really _is_ made of spiders.”

“Well, it can’t be _bad_. Besides, in your state – food’s food,” May pointed out with a shrug, holding out the Spider Doughnut again. June looked like she wanted to argue, but had nothing left to say, so she took it, giving it a hesitant sniff before taking a bite. May smiled to herself, taking a bite of her Spider Doughnut and leaning against her sister again. Both girls were pleasantly surprised by the monster food, finishing their treats quickly.

“Pretty good, huh?” May grinned, brushing the crumbs off of herself. June nodded, licking her fingers thoughtfully.

“Not bad,” the teen replied, feeling significantly better. “You feeling any different?”

“Mm…not really.”

“Huh…I wonder if monster food has some sort of restorative effect, then…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I feel almost completely better, but you didn’t feel any change. If it were an energizing effect, you’d probably feel something too. It wouldn’t be just me. And so far, there seem to be no negative side effects…”

May shook her head.

“You are putting _way_ too much thought into this. All I need to know is that you’re feeling better,” she added with a wide smile. June smiled back.

“I guess you’re right. Come on, we need to get moving.”

May nodded, shouldering her pack again and following her sister. After walking in silence for a bit, June stopped in her tracks, getting the feeling they were being followed. Slowly, the teen turned, but there was no one there. May, lost in thought, walked past her sister, only to realize a second later.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth. June looked around them with a suspicious eye, only to have the feeling finally pass.

“…it’s nothing,” the older girl replied, shaking her head. “I just, uh, realized we left our traveling cloaks at Toriel’s.”

May frowned, remembering as well.

“Oh. Yeah. We did.”

The smaller girl turned back to the path, her eyes downcast. June couldn’t help but notice her normally bright and bubbly younger sibling’s change in behavior.

“Something buggin’ ya?”

“I…I’m still just sad about Toriel. That’s all.”

June frowned sympathetically. Then she smiled to herself.

“Then I have an idea of what would cheer you up. Wanna hear some jokes?”

May cast a sideways glance at her sister. June’s sense of humor was…sketchy at best. But, since she clearly wanted to try and help…

“Sure,” May sighed, “Lay ‘em on me.”

“Okay. So, you remember that play I was so into my freshman year? The one where everyone dies?”

“The Shakespeare one? _Hamlet?_ ”

“That’s the one. Well, I’ve heard that somewhere in the world is a _Hamlet_ themed restaurant, and all their dishes are named after characters or lines from the play. Like their most popular dish? It’s like Kung Pao Chicken, but they call it, ‘a murder most… _fowl_ ’.”

June winked, purposefully emphasizing the pun. May’s eyes went wide and she slapped her hands over her mouth, covering a huge grin and a helpless giggle. Taking it as encouragement, June continued.

“And one of their sandwiches – it’s called the ‘Prince _Ham_ -let’.”

May giggled more, her face turning red trying not to laugh at her sister’s awful jokes.

“They also have this special dish you can get if you’re just having a bad day. The wait staff call it the ‘Ophelia’.”

“I get it! Because they’d like to say ‘oh, I feel ya!’ God, those are terrible!” May blurted, laughing loudly. June grinned.

“Ah, but you’re laughing and smiling. So I’d say they _served_ their purpose.”

“Ohmygod, STOP,” May gasped, clutching her sides, laughing so hard she staggered as she walked.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you say you wanted _more_ puns? Because I can-”

“No! No, stop! That’s enough!”

“You feeling better, then?”

“Yeah, I feel much better,” the little girl answered, the light returning to her eyes. “Thanks, sis.”

“Of course, May. Anything for you.”

May beamed, then darted ahead a bit, weaving playfully in and out of the trees, making patterns with her footprints in the snow. June stayed on the path, a light smile on her blood-red lips, when the feeling returned. She stopped again and turned, faster this time – but still, no one was behind them. When she stood there scratching her head in confusion, her sister called, “Come on, June! Hurry up!”

The older girl shrugged, turned, then trotted after the younger girl. By the time she caught up, May was standing before a strange bridge, looking up at the bars that stood before them.

“Why do you think that’s there?” the younger ravenette asked, pointing to the bars.

“No idea. It is kinda weird, though. Let’s be careful.”

But right before they started across, both girls felt the presence behind them, freezing where they stood.

“ **d o n ’ t y o u k n o w h o w t o g r e e t –** ”

But before the thing behind the girls could finish its sentence, June jumped, her nerves getting the better of her. Moving on instinct, she backhanded the talking creature, hitting it hard enough to send it flying into a tree next to the path. May squeaked in alarm at the sound of June’s hand connecting with it, then turned and gasped when it slammed into the tree.

“June!” she cried, turning on her sister. The older girl paled.

“Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. I-I didn’t mean to, I swear!”

“Well that’s not going to help!” May said, bolting past her sister and kneeling next to the creature.

“What was I supposed to do, May? It startled me!”

“Well, you didn’t have to hit it!” the little girl snapped back, glaring at her sister. She then returned her attention to the creature before her, gently touching its shoulder.

“Hey, a-are you okay? My sister didn’t hurt you, did she?”

When she got no response, May gingerly shook its shoulder…then screamed. June whipped around to face the younger, finding her scrambling away from the creature she was tending to. The older took two steps towards the shrieking small child when she spotted why the girl was making such a ruckus. A skull rolled to a stop between May and the skeleton she was sitting next to, still grinning at the girls. June paled even more.

“ITS HEAD CAME OFF!” the little girl finally screamed.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…”

“ITS HEAD CAME OFF!”

“Oh my god, this is bad…”

“ITS HEAD CAME OFF!”

“I can see that, thank you!” June yelled back at her sister.

“YOU KILLED IT BY HITTING IT INTO A TREE!”

“I did not!”

“Did so!”

“I barely touched it!”

“Yeah, barely touched it RIGHT INTO A TREE!”

“I told you, I was startled! I couldn’t help it!”

“Well, you better help me figure out how to fix it, because we can’t just leave it here!”

June finally fell silent, her brain in overdrive trying to find a way to calm her frightened sister and deal with what appeared to be a dead body.

“Uh, okay. We-we just need to, um…”

The teen was interrupted by a clacking sound, to which both girls turned. They both watched in mute, fascinated horror as the skeleton felt its spine where its head normally was, then crawled around looking for something. When it finally found the skull, it picked it up and turned it so its face was towards the front before snapping its head back into place with an almost sickening crack. The girls flinched, May more noticeably than June. Then the skeleton turned to them.

“you got me pretty good. that’s going to hurt for a while…”

May, looking like she was going to be sick, fluttered her eyes and pitched forward with a small groan, falling over in the snow.

“Shit, May!” June darted over to the little girl, scooping her up. She then fixed her piercing glare on the skeleton.

“The fuck’d you do to her?” she demanded, holding the girl close.

“nothing,” the monster replied, “i just said you hit me pretty good. that’s all, i swear.”

The skeleton-monster seemed genuinely freaked out that the younger ravenette had fainted, so June turned her attention to her sister again.

“May. Come on, May. Wake up,” she murmured, gently patting her sister’s cheek. “Come on. Please, wake up. Please…”

May finally started twitching, moaning as she came around.

“Oh, thank god…” June breathed heavily, relaxing. The skeleton next to her – though she couldn’t quite figure out how – seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as well, sitting back, its smile widening.

“What…what happened…?” May slurred, sitting up slowly.

“You panicked after I accidentally hit a monster and its head fell off. You thought I killed it, but, uh…well, it got back up. When it put its head back on and talked to us, you fainted.”

“Oh…Oh!” the little girl gasped, remembering. She paled again and looked faint. “Ohh…”

“Oh no you don’t,” June said firmly, grabbing a handful of snow and shoving it in May’s face. This brought her back in a hurry, spluttering and flailing around while she tried to clear her face.

“June! What the heck?”

“You are _not_ gonna faint on me again. You almost gave me a heart attack the first time.”

May pouted, snow still clinging to her hair and lashes.

“Think you can get up on your own?”

“Yeah. I’m fine now.”

“Good. Now…I believe we both owe this nice…um, person…an apology. I’m sorry for smacking you around like that.”

“And I’m sorry for freaking out like that. Are you okay?”

“yeah, i’m fine. i’ll probably be _bone-tired_ for a while, but i’ll be alright. i was going to have you shake my hand while i held this whoopee cushion, but…seems a little _heavy-handed_ now. i’m sans, by the way. sans the skeleton.”

May giggled at Sans’ puns, then smoothed her clothes before sticking out her hand.

“I’m May. Mayflower Skies,” she replied, smiling warmly.

“nice name, kid,” Sans replied, taking her hand to shake it. Then, somehow, his expression changed to one of confusion, and he took back his hand, holding…a Spider Doughnut. May grinned gleefully, having successfully slipped it into her hand to give him without him noticing when she smoothed her clothes.

“In case my sister did hurt you,” she explained, her proud grin changing to a sheepish little smile. Sans looked at her for a moment, then – to the girls’ surprise – he blushed a bright blue.

“t-thanks, kid,” he stammered, “i’ll just…save it for later. so, you are…?”

“Juniper Skies,” the teen replied, shaking his hand when she realized he was talking to her. Sans’ pupils were so small, it was hard for her to keep track of where he was looking. (How he had pupils or eyes in the first place was beyond her, but considering they had just landed in a world of monsters and magic, she was quickly learning to quit questioning things like that.) “Call me June.”

“june and may…i feel like your names are supposed to be some kind of joke.”

“Well, I don’t know about a joke,” May giggled, “but they are ironic. I was born in June, you see, and June was born in May. That, and I guess it was a theme kind of thing. Everyone in our family has a nickname based off a month. You know about me and June…”

“Our mom’s nickname is Jan or January, and our father was Dec or December. So yeah, you could say it runs in the family.”

Sans tried to suppress an amused snort, but kept grinning either way.

“well, listen. this is great and all, but i’m actually on the lookout for humans such as yourselves, but i’m too much of a lazybones to try. my bro, on the other hand, is a human hunting fanatic. he built those bars to keep them out, but he built them too big. and he seems kind of down in the dumps lately, so i have a favor to ask. seeing a human would really cheer up my bro…”

June frowned, intending to say no, they didn’t have the time to help. But clever little May turned back to her sister and put on her best puppy eyes.

“Please, June? It’d help make up for the big mix up. And we’d get to make someone’s day! Pleeeeeeeease?”

The teen’s frown deepened, but she had a hard time resisting her sister’s pleading look. Finally, she sighed, running a hand across her ponytail.

“Oh, fine. We’ll help. But just this once. We don’t have time to be stopping for every little thing, you know.”

May’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, and she hugged her sister with a happy little squeal.

“Thanks, June!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“great,” Sans replied, still grinning, “my bro should be coming by soon, and i know the perfect place for you to hide. come with me.”

Sans proceeded to push the girls across the bridge ahead of him. June had to resist slapping his hands away, while May just giggled at his eagerness. Once across, he pointed to a pair of boulders the girls could hide behind.

“I’m not sure we’ll both fit,” June said skeptically. May looked around and spotted a little stand next to the path, which she immediately flitted over to and crouched down behind. It was only just big enough for her to fit. June sighed and headed towards the boulders, curling up as tight as she could to stay out of sight. Then Sans stood in the road and waited.

“SANS!” a voice cried, approaching. June moved just enough that she could see and spotted another skeleton, much taller than Sans, in a funky outfit. Since they were both skeletons, June had little doubt this was the brother Sans had mentioned.

“sup, bro,” the smaller skeleton replied.

“YOU KNOW WHAT’S ‘SUP,’ BROTHER! IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T…RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES!” he shouted, thoroughly annoyed. June just stared from her hiding spot, wondering, A, if he was being serious; B, if monsters took puzzles that seriously; and C, what the hell was he wearing?

“YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION!” The tall skeleton continued, flailing his arms around, as if the extra movement would drive home the point of his over-emphasized words. “WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!?”

“just hanging around my station, watching the boulders,” Sans replied casually, “it’s pretty cool. wanna have a look?”

June and May glanced at each other, both their eyes wide. Was he seriously about to give them away after they said they’d help him?

_‘What’s he doing?’_ May mouthed to her sister, looking worried. June tried to shrug without being noticed.

_‘I don’t know,’_ she mouthed back, _‘but DON’T. MOVE.’_

May nodded back, and the girls returned their attention to the brothers, seeing the taller one stomping his foot as he continued to (very loudly) protest.

“NO!! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE?!? I WANT TO BE READY!!! I WILL BE THE ONE; I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS –”

So that was his name. Somehow, the girls weren’t that surprised. May giggled as quietly as she could from her spot, and June rolled her eyes. Toriel, Sans, Papyrus…she had to wonder if all monsters had such bizarre names.

“- WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE!”

As Papyrus continued to rant, both girls shifted a little where they were hiding, growing bored and uncomfortable. They finally paid attention again when they heard Sans’ voice speak up.

“maybe staring at the boulders with me behind my station will help.”

Okay, this was getting out of hand. And June’s foot was starting to fall asleep… She tried to adjust herself while Papyrus continued about how unhelpful Sans was, but as she did, she accidentally smacked her knee against the boulder, sending a spasm of pain down through her leg. For as graceful as she usually was, she couldn’t help crying out and losing her balance, face-planting into the snow and in sight of both skeletons. May stared at her sister, her hiding spot still undiscovered, hands over her mouth in shock.

“SANS? IS THAT…A HUMAN?!”

“uhhhh…actually, i think those are boulders.”

The tall skeleton stared, looking between Sans and June before narrowing his eyes at his brother.

“WHAT’S THAT _BEHIND_ THE BOULDERS, SANS?”

“uuhhhhh…”

June sat up, now cold and wet from the snow and proceeded to turn over, ignoring the skeletons in her embarrassment. She brushed off as best she could, then lightly tapped where she had hit her knee, feeling the pins and needles of circulation returning to her sleeping limb. She winced at her own light tap, then frowned darkly and started mumbling and cursing under her breath. May was having to resist running out to check on her sister and laughing at the same time.

“these humans really don’t know how to play along, do they?” Sans muttered, seemingly more to himself than anyone else. June glared at the smaller skeleton, her green eyes flashing more in annoyance than real anger.

“I heard that! I hit my knee! Don’t act like you could do any better.”

May was about to fall into view herself from trying to stifle her laughter at her sister. Papyrus seemed to be freaking out over June, practically dancing with excitement.

“HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA!! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU!!! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN…I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT. IN ANY CASE!! CONTINUE IF YOU DARE!!”

Everyone stared at Papyrus as he turned and ran off, laughing to himself. Once they were sure he was gone, May came out from behind Sans’ sentry station, a big grin on her face.

“He’s…energetic,” she giggled to Sans.

“yeah, he’s pretty cool. and i guess i should thank you. you saved me a _skele-ton_ of work just now.”

June groaned and rolled her eyes, while May giggled again.

“What, been working yourself to the _bone_ lately?” June quipped before she could stop herself. Then she paused, realizing what she’d done, and face-palmed. Sans’ grin only widened, enjoying her witty response.

“i can appreciate a lady who makes good bad puns – and certainly one who laughs at them,” he added with a wink to May. The little giggle box laughed some more, a light blush eclipsing her freckled cheeks. “don’t worry about my brother. he’s harmless. and i’ll be keeping an eye socket out for you two. i’ll be up ahead if you need me.”

With that, he turned and walked back the way they’d come. Both girls were rather confused at this.

“I…thought he said he’d be up ahead? And did he try to flirt with us?”

“I don’t know, May. And quite frankly, I think I’m about to give up trying to figure out.”

The sisters shrugged it off, continuing on their way towards whatever lay ahead in the frozen forest.


	6. Sibling Shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy St. Patrick's Day, guys! :D Enjoy the new chapter, and see ya next week! -S

June and May did their best traversing the forest to Snowdin Town…and did fairly well. Still following May’s wishes of not harming anyone, the sisters had found ways to spare every monster they encountered, many of them befriending the little girl right away. May especially had fun with the dog-monsters, petting and playing with them to her little heart’s content. June, however, they only tolerated as long as the younger girl kept her sister in check during combat.

The combat aside, what really kept the girls busy along the way was running into Sans and Papyrus. The first time they encountered the brothers after June’s slip up while they were hiding was quite memorable for them.

“WH-WH-WH-WHAT?! THERE ARE… _TWO_ OF YOU?!? I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS! BUT!! EVEN A COMBINATION OF A TALL HUMAN AND A SMALL HUMAN CANNOT BEST THE COMBINED POWERS OF SANS AND I!!”

“Actually, O Great Papyrus,” May smiled, playing along, “it’s funny you mention that…because we’re siblings, just like you and Sans!”

“WHA- YOU, TOO, POSSESS THE POWER OF A SIBLING?! W-WELL! NO MATTER, LITTLE SANS-HUMAN! FOR YOU CANNOT BEST US WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER!! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

“…little Sans-human?” June voiced skeptically, May giggling at the comment. Sans just looked surprised to be compared to the girls. “If she’s the Sans of the two of us, what does that make me?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’d make you my –”

“Don’t even say it, May. I’m not kidding. That…just no, okay? Just no. If anything, you’re the one closer to his personality.”

May giggled, folding her hands behind her back.

“I suppose you’re right…but we hardly know them, so we don’t really know what their personalities are like. Though I see what you’re getting at. You think I act more like Papyrus than Sans. Truth be told, sis…I agree with you! You’re much more like Sans than I am!”

June smiled and nodded, then paused when she realized the implications of her sister’s words.

“Hey!”

May just laughed, then screeched and started running away, trying to avoid June catching her when the teen gave chase. They laughed and ran around for a good few minutes before finally collapsing in the snow to catch their breath and returning their attention to Sans and Papyrus.

Solving the skeleton brothers’ puzzles was a cakewalk with the girls working together, and every time the girls would catch up to the brothers, Papyrus would swap enthusiastic witty banter with May while June and Sans just watched and waited, amused. By the time the girls finally reached Snowdin Town, they were having more fun than feeling threatened by anything they came across. June had been hesitant to enter the town, Toriel’s words echoing in the back of her head, but May convinced the taller girl it would be fine. And she was right – the monsters were friendly and welcoming, not even realizing the girls weren’t monsters themselves. Just as they were passing a building marked Grillby’s, however…

“Ahh…choo!”

June glanced over at the smaller girl, a worried look crossing her face. Personally, she loved the cold, so the frozen forest and Snowdin Town were great for her. She knew, however, that May wasn’t as thick skinned as her sister, and was probably cold and wet from all the running around and playing in the snow.

“Hey. You wanna rest up and get changed into some dry clothes? The rabbit lady at the store said there was an inn next door to her.”

“I’ll b-be okay,” May replied, shaking her head. Her shivering little figure, chattering teeth, and arms crossed for warmth betrayed her, though. June stopped walking and took her sisters arm, turning around.

“We’re heading back to the inn.”

“But I s-said I’m f-fine!”

“You’re soaking wet, it’s freezing cold, your teeth are chattering…you need to get changed and into a warm bed. Preferably after a warm bath, but I don’t know how likely that is around here.”

“June…” 

Then the door to Grillby’s clanged open in front of them, Papyrus stepping out carrying Sans. He turned, an annoyed look on his face, and spotted the girls. He froze in his tracks.

“HU-” he stopped himself just in time, looking around for anyone who could hear them. “ERM…AQUAINTENCES AND FELLOW SPAGHETTI LOVERS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“Just passing through, Papyrus. We were headed to the inn so May doesn’t catch cold.”

“I t-told you, I’m fi… _ah-choo_ …fine,” the little girl sniffed. Sans, apparently sleeping in Papyrus’ arms, jerked awake when May sneezed. He looked over as Papyrus put him down.

“sounds like you’re _ah-choo-sing_ to be stubborn, kid,” Sans threw out there with a little tilt of his head.

“SANS!! THIS IS SERIOUS!! THE SMALL…ERM…MAY…IS AT RISK OF BECOMING SICK!!! BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NOT ALLOW SUCH A THING TO HAPPEN IN MY TOWN!! HERE, TINY ONE,” the tall skeleton added, taking off his bright red scarf from around his neck and carefully wrapping it around May. “THIS WILL HELP!! NO NEED TO THANK ME!! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!”

In truth, the scarf was far too big for the little girl, as it not only eclipsed her neck, but her head as well, making it so that she had to do a bit of tugging so she could see and breathe without the garment in the way. Even all tangled up in Papyrus’ scarf as she was, there was still some trailing off of her, the ends almost touching the ground. June blinked and smiled, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous the younger ravenette looked with just her eyes and nose peeking out from the bright red scarf.

“she still looks _chilled to the bone_ to me. here, kid. wear this, too,” Sans added, shrugging out of his jacket and putting it around her shoulders. As it turned out, Sans’ jacket was barely too big for May, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Papyrus’ scarf. She grabbed the edges of the fur-lined jacket and pulled it tight, just her fingers visible holding it closed. June sighed and knelt down, helping her adjust the jacket so she could wear it properly.

“Th-thanks you guys…but w-won’t you guys get c-cold without them?” the little girl asked, her voice muffled by the scarf across her face. The skeleton brothers smiled at her and shook their heads.

“WE ARE SKELTONS, LITTLE ONE! WE DO NOT GET AS COLD AS YOU SURELY MUST!”

“he’s right. after all, it _s’not_ like we feel it. the wind, the cold…it all goes right through us.”

May giggled, then hopped forward and gave Sans a hug first, then Papyrus – or rather, Papyrus’ leg, since she wasn’t tall enough to give him a proper hug.

“Thanks, guys! I already feel better!”

Sans seemed surprised by the hug, but didn’t reject it, either. Papyrus looked pretty pleased with himself.

“don’t mention it, kid.”

“AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT BECOME SICK, LITTLE ONE, THEN ALL IS WELL!! AH, BUT I HAD FORGOTTEN! ARE YOU NOT AT RISK OF BECOMING SICK AS WELL, GRUMPY ONE?”

June made a mental note to correct Papyrus the next time he should call her “grumpy one,” and shook her head.

“Nah. Well actually, I probably am, but –”

“THEN YOU SHALL ACCOMPANY US TO OUR HOME SO THAT YOU MAY WARM YOURSELVES!!” Papyrus interrupted, scooping up Sans again before picking up June. The older girl cried out in alarm and protest, blushing furiously as he positioned her on his back. He then turned to May and picked her up too, tucking the giggling child under his arm. The tall skeleton then raced off to a quaint two-story house covered in Christmas lights and decorations and entered, gently putting down his smaller two passengers before letting June climb off his back. The tall girl huffed in annoyance and refused to look at him, face still red in embarrassment. Papyrus wondered why she seemed so upset. May giggled, starting to try to detangle herself from Papyrus’ scarf.

“Don’t mind her. She’s just not used to someone being able to pick her up and carry her like a kid anymore.”

“Th-that’s not it at all!” the teen squeaked indignantly.

“Is too, and you know it. She’s probably also kind of embarrassed you picked her up so easily.”

“ _May!_ ”

“Can’t help it if it’s true!” the little girl grinned, having finally gotten out of Papyrus’ scarf by herself. She turned and handed it back to him.

“Thank you for letting me borrow it.”

“YOU ARE VERY WELCOME, TINY HUMAN!!” he replied, putting it back on. Sans looked like he was asleep on his feet, so May looked over at him, hesitated, then snuggled into his jacket more.

“I’ll just hang on to this until he wakes up some more,” she said, smiling to herself. June, not blushing since the attention was off of her now, smirked and shook her head.

“You just like his jacket.”

“It is pretty comfy. I can see why he likes it.”

“WOULD EITHER OF YOU LIKE TO SIT BY THE FIRE WHILE YOU WARM UP?” Papyrus asked, gently pushing them towards the fireplace. May nodded and thanked him, getting settled in front of it. Once May was settled comfortably, Papyrus hummed to himself and disappeared to the kitchen for a while. June sighed and sat with her sister until the little girl fell asleep. The older girl then got up and went to talk to Papyrus, finding he had moved to the living room.

“You know, before you picked us up and brought us over here, I was going to say that I’m not as susceptible to the cold as she is, so I would have been fine. I like the cold, really.”

“BUT YOU WERE AS WET FROM THE SNOW AS THE TINY ONE! WAS IT NOT LIKELY THAT YOU WOULD BECOME SICK, TOO?”

“While there is a chance I’d get sick, it’s less of one. See, since I’m older, my immune system is stronger, and since I don’t react the same way to the cold as most people do, I stand a much smaller chance of getting sick from it than anyone else.”

“I SEE,” he replied, clearly not seeing at all. “…WHAT IS AN IMMUNE SYSTEM?”

“It’s part of the human body. It helps us fight off infections and diseases and keeps us from getting sick when we’re healthy. Don’t you guys have something like that?”

“no, we don’t,” Sans answered for Papyrus from where he sat on the couch. “we only get sick if we have too much or not enough magical energy. it can be a pain trying to find the line between the two.”

“Sounds like that comes from experience.”

“IT DOES. HE USED TO GET SICK VERY OFTEN. BUT NOW THAT I MAKE HIM PRACTICE AT LEAST ONCE A DAY WITH ME, IT DOES NOT HAPPEN AS OFTEN!”

“…not that you needed to know that, i’m sure.”

“Actually, it’s kind of cool. It shows how different monsters and humans are. Like, it’s not just societies and customs and traditions and junk. It’s all the way down to a biological level. Truth be told, now that I’m starting to get used to being down here, I can’t help but be fascinated with stuff like that. Like, check this out.”

June now concentrated her powers, then waved her hand, lifting their couch into the air and having it hover there. Sans, still sitting on the couch when she lifted it, got a panicked look on his face before realizing that June was the one making the heavy piece of furniture fly. Both skeletons stared at her in shock.

“YOU…POSSESS _MAGIC?!?!??!_ HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!? I THOUGHT HUMANS DID NOT POSSESS MAGIC!!!”

The girl smirked, amused by their reactions.

“That’s just the thing. Where we’re from, people consider what I can do to be something like super powers. But down here, you guys call what I can do magic, and it’s as common as finding a piece of hay in a hay bale. And as for humans not, uh…possessing magic…as far as I know, I’m the only one who does.”

June’s amusement darkened to the familiar pangs of loneliness she often felt, and she gently put down the couch, no longer in the mood to show off.

“YOU ARE ALONE IN THIS? NO OTHER HUMANS POSSESS MAGIC SUCH AS YOURS?” Papyrus asked, his voice softening some, his tone gentle.

“None that I ever heard of. And I looked pretty damn hard.”

“EVEN THE LITTLE ONE DOES NOT DISPLAY THE SAME MAGIC?”

“No, and quite frankly, I hope she never does.”

“you wouldn’t want her to have magic?”

“It’s not that I’d mind if she did. Hell, I think if she ever did get powers of her own, she’d get a real kick out of it. But other humans…they’re scared of things they don’t understand. They naturally fear what they can’t explain. So someone like me, able to do the impossible without a clue as to why…”

“they were afraid of you.”

“Yeah. And though not everyone is like that…most of them are, just because they aren’t ready to accept something like that. Someone like me. Most people were…cruel, to put it in a word. And that’s why I don’t want her to have powers like mine. She’s just so… pure and sweet and innocent. I do what I can to protect her, but…I don’t want May to have to suffer through the same things I have. So for her sake…I pray that she never develops powers of her own.”

There was a very heavy silence that followed her words. Sans started to reach out and take her hand, but June suddenly lifted her head and smelled the air, wrinkling her nose.

“Do…you guys smell something…burning?”

Papyrus paused, then his eyes went wide.

“MY PASTA!!!!!” the tall skeleton shrieked, racing to the kitchen. June hesitated before snickering, then outright laughing. Sans just dropped his hand, shaking his head.

“Is he always like this?” she asked when her laughter finally died down, wiping tears from her eyes.

“pretty much. he can be pretty _im-pasta-ble_ to live with at times, but he’s still cool. he is my bro, after all.”

June gave an extra snort of laughter at the pun before May came stumbling into the room in a sleepy, yet almost blind, panic.

“June! June, are you okay? I heard yelling!” The little girl clung to her sister’s leg to keep herself up, trying to quickly rub the sleep from her eyes. June smiled down at her sister and patted her head gently.

“I’m fine, sis. Papyrus was just freaking out over something. But thanks for coming to check on me, sweetie.”

“You’re sure?” May asked, much calmer than before, but just as sleepy.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Really. Go back to sleep, hun. You need the rest.”

“Okay…” the smaller ravenette replied, relaxing into a little smile. She then pulled up the hood of Sans’ jacket and started to shuffle back to the fire, then stopped.

“Oh, yeah,” she mumbled, pushing the hood back down and taking off the jacket. She then came back over and held it out to Sans.

“Thank you for letting me wear it. It’s really comfy.”

“don’t _sweater_ about it, kid,” the small skeleton replied, taking it back and putting it on without moving from the couch. “as long as you don’t get sick.”

May smiled before turning and going to curl back up in front of the fire. Sans and June watched her walk out of the room before June caught Sans muttering something under his breath to himself.

“Wazzat? I couldn’t hear you.”

“uh, nothing, nothing,” he replied hastily, a blush creeping onto his face.

“I smell bullshit. Come on, out with it. What did you say?”

“really, nothing!” the blue-faced skeleton said, trying to hide from the teen. One look at her face, though, and…

“there’s no getting by you on this, is there?”

“Nope.”

“fine. i said i can’t believe i got attached to her so quickly.”

June relaxed, folding her arms across her chest with a knowing smile.

“Yeah, she has a way of doing that to people. I mean, you did notice how quickly I caved to her little puppy eyes, right?”

“don’t tell me you do that on _pup-ose._ ”

“No,” June snickered, “but I can’t help it. She’s too damned cute for her own good.”

“tell me about it. she’s a regular little paps, that one.”

June opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut off by a distressed wail from the kitchen.

“I CANNOT SALVAGE THIS! I HAVE RUINED YOUR FIRST MEAL WITH US! WHAT WILL WE DO NOW?!?”

June rushed to the kitchen, expecting Sans to follow…although, when she got there, Sans was already there. She froze, then glanced back at the couch. Nope, Sans was definitely in the kitchen, and had gotten there before her without moving a muscle.

“What the…” she muttered, ignored by both brothers.

“it’s okay, paps. i’m sure you tried your best.”

“BUT THIS ONE WAS GOING SO WELL…” Papyrus sobbed. Sans put a gentle hand on the tall skeleton’s back, letting him have his moment.

“we could go to grillby’s instead,” Sans finally suggested, “i’m sure the girls aren’t that _fusilli_ about their food.”

June paused, recognizing the name of that particular type of pasta from some of her own fancier cookbooks back home.

“Did…did you just…make a fancy pasta pun?” she laughed, May only now wandering into the room.

“What’s so funny?”

“Sans made a pasta joke about us not being picky about food.”

“Oh,” the little girl replied, a smile already creeping up on her face. “And I missed it! Aw!”

“SANS, YOU KNOW I CAN’T STAND GRILLBY’S! IT’S TOO GREASY! WE CAN’T TAKE THEM THERE!”

“you can get a milkshake.”

Papyrus fell silent, pouting before getting up and setting the burnt pasta aside.

“VERY WELL. LET US MAKE HASTE, THEN!!”

As suddenly as he had said it, June had a feeling about what was about to happen.

“ _Papyrus, wait –_ ”

Too late. In one swift motion, he scooped up Sans and June in one arm and May in the other, rushing to the door. May squealed in both fright and delight, while June yelled the whole way to Grillby’s, deafening poor Sans. By the time they got there and Papyrus put them all down, May had to take her hair down because it was so messy and windblown, June was again pouting and angry with Papyrus, and Sans commented, “nice set of lungs you’ve got there, kid.”

“I wasn’t being that loud, was I?”

“i meant her,” he answered, pointing a thumb in June’s direction. She glared at him harshly, still upset. May giggled, brushing her hair with her thin fingers and pulling it up into a pair of high pigtails.

“Man, Sans. If June’s look matched her temper, you’d be on fire right about now!”

Sans gave a nervous chuckle, a light blush creeping across his cheekbones briefly before guiding them over to the counter and greeting Grillby, the fire elemental behind the bar.

“three burgers with fries, and a milkshake for paps.”

“Not even gonna let us pick what we want?” June teased grumpily.

“not a whole lot of options. besides, the burgers and fries here are more on fire than june’s temper.”

June glared and May laughed while Grillby served their food with a warm smile. The girls enjoyed their food happily, surprised by how good it was, while Sans and Papyrus were proud of themselves for bringing the sisters to Grillby’s. Then Papyrus got a phone call.

“HELLO? UNDYNE? WHAT –? AN EMERGENCY?! SANS AND I WILL BE THERE RIGHT AWAY!!” He hung up and turned to the girls. “I MUST APOLOGIZE, LITTLE ONE AND SISTERLY ONE, BUT SANS AND I MUST LEAVE YOU. THERE IS AN EMERGENCY WITH A DEAR FRIEND WE MUST ATTEND TO!!”

“uh, paps, i don’t think leaving them here alone is such a good idea…”

“It’s okay, Sans. We can handle ourselves! You guys go ahead. Good luck!”

Sans didn’t look convinced, but before he could protest more, he was once again in Papyrus’ arms and out the door.

“So…what should we do while they’re gone?” June turned to her sister and asked, laying down some money for their food.

“Maybe we should go wait at their house for them,” the little girl suggested, hopping down off her bar stool. June shrugged, heading for the door.

“Sounds alright to me. As long as they wouldn’t mind we hang out for a bit.”

May skipped ahead when June opened the door for her.

“Race you!” the smaller ravenette cried, dashing out into the cold. June grinned, a wicked, competitive look on her face.

“You’re on!”


	7. Uh-oh...

June and May raced back and forth all the way to the skeleton brothers’ house, and when they got there, instead of going right inside, May and June continued to play outside for a bit. June thought it was nice, because it let May have a rare childhood happiness moment while they were on the run. May liked it because it gave June a moment to be a normal big sister playing with her normal little sister and just being normal. Then May darted around the back of the boys’ house and stopped short.

When June caught her sister just standing and staring, all playfulness and amusement vanished.

“What’s up, buttercup?”

“Did you know they have a basement?”

June blinked, stepping around her sister to see what the little girl was staring at and spotted the doors leading down. Down to what wasn’t clear, but clearly the little one was curious.

“No, but I think we should probably leave it alone. Who knows what skeletons they have in their closet…err, basement.”

May snorted, trying to contain laughter at June’s joke, but tugged on her sister’s hand, regardless.

“Come on! Aren’t you curious? Even a little bit?”

June made a face, but let her sister drag her to the doors. May gave them a small, experimental tug, noticing right away they were locked. The smaller girl then turned her gaze up to the tall teen.

“What? Can’t get them open?”

“No. They’re locked.”

“Then all the more reason to leave them alone. But you can’t say we didn’t try. Now come on, let’s go before someone sees us and realizes we shouldn’t be back here or who we are.”

“Oh, come on. There’s no one around. No one even knows we’re here!”

“Exactly! So let’s go before someone _does!_ ”

“But-but-but… _I’m curious!_ Please! And I know you can pick locks, so…” June stared at her sister blankly for a moment, considering whether to ask how the little girl knew about her lock picking or why she was so determined to get into their basement.

“May, I am not picking the lock to their basement. They locked it for a reason!”

“Well, we can unlock it, take a quick look around, then lock it back when we leave! No one will even know we were in there.”

“You don’t know that. They might have some sort of security system that’ll tell them if someone’s inside or not. Besides, that’s called breaking and entering, May. Which is illegal?” the taller girl reminded, putting her hands on her hips.

“Okay, two flaws with your argument. One, we don’t know monster laws. They might not have a law against that kind of thing. And if they do, we can just say we didn’t know. It’s not like we’d be lying.”

“And two?”

May smiled, looking as innocent as possible and winking at her sister conspiratorially.

“It’s not illegal if we don’t get caught.”

June stared at her sister for a minute, absolutely floored.

“I don’t know whether that’s clever…or scary,” she finally replied, stepping forward. “Alright, I’ll get to work on the lock. You make sure no one sneaks up on us and catches us while I’m working it.”

May grinned, her eyes lighting up excitedly and nodded, going to the corner of the house and peeking around it, making sure no one was coming and could see them. “Coast is clear right now. Whenever you’re ready, sis!”

June nodded and fished her lock picking kit out of her pocket, usually carrying it on her as a precaution. Setting up her tools, she set to work picking the lock to the skeleton brothers’ basement. It took her a few minutes to get it, but she eventually opened the surprisingly complex lock, taking it off the doors and pocketing the lock.

“Alright, May. It’s open. Though I still don’t think we should be invading their privacy. Besides, I’m getting another bad feeling.”

“About what?”

“Going down there. I just…I dunno. It’s that whole sixth sense thing I developed when I got my powers. I’m sensing something that doesn’t necessarily want us down there. That, and the lock they used is one of the most complicated I’d ever picked. It’s like a heavy duty lock. Like the kind you only use if you really want to keep someone out of something.”

“Well, you got it open, didn’t you? And…you get bad feelings from stuff all the time,” May added, sounding less sure of herself when June mentioned her uncanny intuition.

“And have I ever been wrong?”

“…no.”

“Then I think we need to put the lock back and wait for the boys to get home. If you’re still curious then, we can ask them to show us.”

May had no arguments left, but clearly didn’t want to let this go. She pouted, looking up at her sister with puppy eyes again.

“Just one look? Less than five minutes, in and out. Then we lock it back up and ask the boys when they get back if we want to see more.”

June groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. She, too, was out of arguments.

“Ugh, _fine_ , for fuck’s sake. But you’d better hope we don’t get caught. And I’m timing you. Five minutes. Got it?”

“Okay!” May bounced where she stood, excited. When June waved at her to go ahead, the little girl heaved the doors open, running down the stairs. June started a mental timer, keeping track of how long they were in the basement while May dashed this way and that in the darkness, trying to make out what she was looking at. June sighed, focusing her powers and setting one hand ablaze, holding it up like a torch so they could see. June herself was surprised by what they found.

Machines lined one wall of the basement, and while some were intact, others were mostly destroyed. She had to assume the machine parts sitting in boxes around the room were from other machines that hadn’t survived whatever had caused everything to be damaged in the first place. The few that were still intact were covered in dust, clearly not having been used for a long time. June knelt to examine the plaque on one machine, but even after she wiped the dirt and grime off of it, she couldn’t make out most of what it said. What she could, however…

“W. D. Gaster…?” the tall teen murmured to herself, wondering what it meant.

“June, check this out!”

She straightened and came over to where May was. The little girl had found a machine that was still operational – and, remarkably enough, didn’t have the same layers of dust as everything else. June’s bad feeling got worse.

“Was this like this when we got down here?”

“No. I accidentally flipped a switch and it started up. But check this out!”

May reached up and turned one of the dials on the machine. The image on the screen was a bit fuzzy, but cycled through pictures of different places as she turned. June found herself drawn in, wondering just what it was the machine did and where those places were.

“Pretty cool, huh? And I figured something else out! When you aren’t turning that knob or on one specific picture, the other controls unlock. And, when you press this button, and flick this switch…” May fiddled with the machine while she spoke, it following her commands as if she actually knew what she was doing. When she finished flicking switches and pressing buttons, a few lines of text appeared on the screen. Both girls stared at it.

“What the…”

“I know. Weird, right? Like, who programs their machine to display text in an unreadable font?”

“It’s not…totally unreadable. There _is_ a pattern. It’s just been so long since I’ve seen the wingdings font that I have no idea what it says.”

“That’s even weirder! Cool, but weird. Ooh, but you wanna see one of the weirdest things yet?”

Before June could answer, May undid whatever commands had brought up the text, then cycled through the pictures until it landed on one that was of nothing at all. A blank white screen stared back at them. Then May input the command again and the text reappeared, same as before.

“Wait, so those button clicks and switches…that’s like you selecting the picture for something, right?”

“I think so.”

“So it lets you select a blank screen? It lets you pick nothingness?”

“I know, right?” May answered, her eye’s wide. “That’s the weirdest thing so far!”

“And do you have any idea what this machine is supposed to do?”

“Not a clue. If I had to guess, though…I think it either lets you monitor wherever it is the pictures are from…or it takes you there.”

“What makes you say that? Especially given that one of the options is nothingness.”

“Well…” May replied, taking a couple steps to one side, then pointed. “It seems to be connected to that thing. And it looks an awful lot like a teleporter or something to me.”

June made the fire on her hand burn a little brighter, forcing the thing May was pointing at to come out of the shadows. A glass cylinder big enough to fit three full-grown adults comfortably dominated the space next to the machine, pushing its way out towards the center of the room. The top and base glowed slightly, the lights barely even on, which was why she hadn’t seen it before. And, from the looks of it, it opened outward, allowing for easy access to the…whatever it was. Red flags waved in June’s head as she studied both things, but now her curiosity was getting the better of her, too.

“You’re right. I don’t think it was just meant to observe. I think it was meant to transport something. But what or how is another matter entirely. I can see where you’d get the teleportation theory, though.”

“Should we test it out?”

“What? No! May, we shouldn’t even be messing with this thing in the first place. We need to shut it off and leave. Your five minutes are up.”

“But –”

“No. No more buts. We need to get out of here before we get in serious trouble. Now come on, shut this thing down so we can go.”

“Okay...” May sighed, disappointed. She reached for the controls, about to undo her commands for selecting the blank nothingness, when all of a sudden, the screen turned to static and the machine started beeping angrily. May instantly retracted her hand and June whirled back around.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing! I wasn’t touching it when it started, I swear!”

“Well, how do we get it to stop?”

“I don’t know! It wasn’t doing that when I was playing with the buttons! Maybe if we just start pressing things or flicking switches it’ll stop.”

“May, that’s not –”

But the little girl was too quick in her panic, pressing a button to see what it would do. Alarm bells started blaring from the machine, and the lights at the top and base of the glass cylinder started to glow brighter.

“– a good idea,” June finished, barely able to be heard over the alarms ringing out. Suddenly, the door to the glass cylinder hissed open, and as the lights continued to get brighter, the girls suddenly found themselves lifted into the air and drawn into the cylinder, the door closing behind them. The noise of the alarms was slightly dampened by the closed door, but it didn’t help to ease the girls’ fear.

“What’s happening?!” May cried, wobbling as she hovered in the air next to her sister, whatever had drawn them into the machine keeping them afloat.

“I don’t know!” June shouted in reply, looking around for a way out. She couldn’t see past the lights for an override switch or a line to cut to force the door open again…but what she could see was Sans rushing down the stairs of the basement, a panicked look on his face.

“Sans!”

May spotted him too, thumping on the glass for his attention. June hesitated, realizing there was no way he should have known they were there, but in the moment, she also realized it didn’t matter. She started pounding on the glass too, guessing that the machine was most likely almost fully powered up, since the lights were so bright now, they could barely see.

“Get us out of here! Hurry!” June added. Sans ran – actually ran – over to the machine and started flicking switches and smashing down on buttons, frantically trying to get the machine to abort, swearing to himself the whole time.

Then the machine made a new sound, the girls crying out as the lights became blinding, Sans looking up from the controls.

“June!”

“May, hang on!”

Now Sans was forced to cover his eyes, blinded by the lights himself. One of the girls shrieked.

And just like that, they were gone. The sisters, clinging to each other for protection, were now only-god-knows-where in all of time, space, and beyond. That last scream was still echoing in the basement as Sans looked again and, realizing it was too late, whispered, “oh shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> B- Couldn't have said it better myself, Sans. And we're off, hope y'all enjoy the roller coaster we have planned! *winks*


	8. Titans of the Anti-Void

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _ **POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!**_ There is a mention of what may or may not be blood. (We weren't sure if it was gonna be blood or not, but the warning is still there.) If you'd rather not risk the trigger, skip down to the end of the chapter. A brief summary of the chapter will be in the end notes.

When the sisters first opened their eyes, they saw nothing. A vast whiteness stretched on forever in all directions, and it took them a minute to realize they had been knocked out from a harsh crash landing. Slowly, the girls stood, surveying their surroundings.

“Where are we?” May asked, her voice almost muffled by the empty air.

“I don’t know,” June replied, equally confused, but also a bit frightened. “But stay close to me. I don’t want to lose you here…wherever here is.”

Though the logic may have sounded silly, considering that they were in a space where the only thing of note was themselves, both girls didn’t want to become separated in the new and unfamiliar place. May nodded, staying in arm’s reach of her sister as they explored their new environment. As they walked, they began to hear voices ahead of them, and the sounds of a fight. Thinking someone might need help, they hastened towards the noises, and found…what appeared to be two of Sans fighting each other.

One looked mostly like normal Sans, only wearing different clothes. This Sans had a giant paint brush, with paint and other art supplies strapped to him like weaponry. His eyes were also different, and he seemed to be covered in ink or paint of some kind. When he attacked, his attacks spewed rainbow colors, and he moved with the grace and style of an artist.

Then there was the other one. This Sans was the polar opposite of the first one, being mostly black, his clothes either black or with colored outlines. He had blue lines streaking down his face, and it was clear there was something very wrong with him, as he was surrounded by a cloud of the word “error”, like one would see on a computer screen. His attacks also had the glitched “error” message around them as well, and he seemed to move and attack with strings, like he was some sort of magical puppet master.

When they got close enough to clearly see the two Sans, the girls hung back for a bit and watched the fighting, scared and confused as to what on earth was going on. Sometimes the two skeletons would trade banter between blows, or after particularly well played moves, but mostly, they just fought. One thing the girls picked up from watching and listening to the two was a set of names they seemed to call each other: Ink, for the normal-looking Sans, and Error for the glitchy dark one.

“Ink? Error? What the heck is going on?” May asked June, holding on to her sister’s arm in fear. “And why do they both look like Sans?”

“I don’t know, May,” the tall ravenette replied, standing between the little girl and the fighting skeletons. “But I don’t think we should be here. We need to go. Now.”

May looked like she was ready to agree with June, when it looked like Ink finally had Error pinned. Neither girl moved as they watched in fascination while they two briefly talked. Then, Error showed his hand by moving what little of him wasn’t pinned down and summoning another attack behind Ink. Both girls eyes widened involuntarily, and they clung harder to each other.

“ _Look out!_ ” May shrieked, despite herself. Then the attack fired, June only moving just in time to block May’s view, covering her eyes herself. When the dust cleared, the girls gasped in horror. Error was free, and approaching the broken body of Ink with an evil grin.

“oh? your Soul’s still intact?” Error noticed in surprise, snapping his fingers for another attack. “i’ll put you out of your misery. so long, ink.”

Suddenly, May dashed past her sister, taking a stand between Error and Ink.

“ _No!_ Stop it! Leave him alone, you…you big jerk!”

Both skeletons froze, not having noticed the sisters watching the fight. Then Error began to laugh as May’s Soul was drawn out of her.

“what…?” Ink said softly, shocked by the little girl’s actions.

“look at that. one of your precious AUs has come to play. how you got here, kid, i don’t know, but you need to wait your turn. i’ll come for your universe soon enough. first, i need to deal with him.”

“Then you’ll have to go through me to do it,” May answered bravely, standing her ground. Her ice-blue eyes flashed in defiance, steeling herself for whatever Error had in mind for her.

“heh, you? alright then,” he answered with a shrug, taking aim with his attack. “i’ll just kill you both here and now. one less anomaly to deal with later.”

Though her confidence faltered and showed her fear, May refused to move in the face of Error’s attack. Just as it looked like he was going to blast them both, June came flying into view, punching Error in the face and causing his attack to miss. Error, from where he now lay on the ground several feet away, glared at June. She glared just as fiercely back, her piercing green eyes practically scorching the air between them.

“Not _my_ sister, you son-of-a-bitch,” she growled, her voice seething with rage. She didn’t even flinch as her own Soul was then pulled from her too, landing on the ground in front of May’s. The tall teen then turned her head some to speak to her sister, not taking her eyes off Error.

“I’ll keep him busy.”

May nodded, exclaiming, “I’ll take care of Ink!” as she turned to face the injured skeleton. The little girl knelt next to Ink and pulled him gingerly into her arms.

“w-what are you d-doing?” Ink asked, looking up at May as best he could.

“Trying to help,” May replied with a gentle smile, carefully shrugging off her pack and looking for something. “Don’t worry. If anyone can handle that guy, it’s June.”

Ink seemed about to protest, but was silenced when May lifted one of her Spider Ciders to his mouth.

“I know it’s not much, but I do have a few things of monster food left. Given the effect they had on June, they should help…I hope.”

Ink drank the Spider Cider, healing a bit, much to May’s delight.

“you don’t understand,” Ink finally replied, “error…his only goal, his purpose…it’s to destroy everything. he wants to destroy all the alternate universes and timelines. you two are strong, but error is way out of your league. you’re just going to get yourselves killed if you keep this up.”

“It’s not like you’re in any condition to fight him either, mister,” May retorted, feeding him one of her last Spider Doughnuts. “I know the odds seem pretty extreme, but I have no doubt my sister can, at the very least, hold out until you’re better. So for now, just hush and keep eating, alright?”

While May was busy tending to Ink, June was locked in fierce combat with Error, and finding him to be the first worthy opponent she’d ever had. Fighting Toriel had been nothing compared to this, Error making it literally impossible for her to breathe without needing to dodge another attack. And where Toriel had come at June with the brute force of her fire magic, Error was much craftier about his attacks, making those strings of his go all over the place to confuse her, making it difficult to dodge most of them. Sometimes she could force him to miss her by counterattacking when he wasn’t expecting it, but she still wasn’t able to actually land a hit beyond that first punch. She was, however, able to keep the skeleton on his toes.

“you’re stronger than that other brat, i’ll give you that,” Error said in a pause between attacks, “but you’re no more a match for me than she is.”

“We’ll see about that,” June growled, launching another attack of her own. Getting tired of playing this game of cat and mouse, June decided to take the offensive, pouring her energy into her powers. This seemed to catch Error off guard, as he was now forced to play the mouse and not the cat.

“Why so surprised?” June taunted, flinging a fireball, then a mass of icicles at Error. “You thought only monsters could have magic like this?”

“just didn’t realize there were any of you left in any of the universes, that’s all.”

“Any of…? What are you talking about?” June asked, confused by Error’s words.

“wait, don’t tell me…you actually don’t know? oh, that’s rich. priceless, even. too bad you’ll never find out the truth. i’m so glad i get to be the one to kill you,” Error sneered, launching into a new attack. June, still mid-motion from one of hers, was caught off guard with no way to dodge. With a sharp grunt, she found herself tied up in Error’s strings, and no matter how she twisted and struggled, she couldn’t get free.

May and Ink looked up when June grunted, May’s eyes going wide.

“June!”

“I’m alright! Just…keep working on Ink!” June flinched as the strings tightened around her. Error chuckled, a low, dark sound, before throwing the older ravenette at May and Ink. May, somehow, reacted in time to pick up Ink and dive to one side, her sister landing in the pool of Ink’s – ink? Paint? Blood? May wasn’t sure – that had accumulated while she was tending to the skeleton.

June was slow to get up, being thrown having weakened her significantly. And though May had given him all the monster food she had, Ink was still in no condition to fight Error. Seeing they were running out of options, May put Ink down and hurried to pull her sister to her feet, then stood next to her against Error.

“I said go take care of Ink,” June insisted.

“I don’t know what else I can do,” May answered, “I’ve done everything I can think of!”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“It’s time to think of _something else._ ”

May’s emphasis on her last two words was strange, but June had an idea of what the little girl wanted her to do.

“I don’t know if I can, May,” she replied, eyeing Error carefully as he continued to slowly approach the girls.

“Well, you know what they say: nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

June hesitated, then nodded, whipping a permanent marker out of her back pocket. Clearly expecting something similar to Ink’s attacks, Error quickly shot his blue strings at them, catching them both since they were unprepared for the attack and suspending them in the air, holding June’s pen up.

“not so fast, kiddos. it’s been fun, really, but i’m getting bored…and you’re getting in my way. so it’s time to put you in your place… _permanently._ ”

He tightened the strings on the girls, preparing to kill them.

“i don’t think so, error.”

Suddenly, Ink, Error, the empty white space, the pain of the strings biting into the girls’ skin – it all vanished. Surrounded by the shine of metal and the noise of machines, the sisters found themselves freed from Error’s clutches…free, and falling through the air again. June twisted herself to see where they were going to land, seeing that May didn’t have anything beneath her to land on. Timing it just so, June used her powers to grab her sister and pull her closer, then jerked them to a stop inches above the walkway that had been rushing up to greet them. May only stopped screaming when June had them hovering in the air by her powers, seeing how close they’d come to falling to their deaths. Then June let go, letting them both drop the last few inches to the ground.

May sat up, pale and trembling, shaken from the whole experience. June just turned over, laying on her back and panting heavily. The major use of her powers and the fight with Error left her exhausted, but she knew she couldn’t rest just yet.

“You okay?” the teen finally managed to get out past her own labored breathing.

“Yeah, I think so,” May answered, even her voice shaky and timid.

“that was some display,” a familiar voice said approaching. “and some fall. are you two alright?”

Both girls turned to the voice, spotting a very familiar small skeleton in a lab coat and glasses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Quick Summary for those who had to skip for the possible trigger warning:** May and June are transported to the Anti-Void, where they encounter Ink and Error. Ink is badly hurt, and Error was about to kill him, when the girls jumped to his rescue. Though June was plenty powerful, she wasn't a match for Error, and it was Ink's quick thinking that got the girls to relative safety. They wind up in unfamiliar surroundings once again, but are greeted by a familiar face...
> 
> **Credit to the creators:** [Ink](http://comyet.tumblr.com/post/132998265968/i-n-k-t-a-l-e), and [Error](http://loverofpiggies.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Hope everyone has their seat belts on, because this is where the real fun begins! Also, I kinda suck at writing action sequences. So sorry to anyone who was disappointed by the lack of description or actual action being described in the action sequences! Anywho, enjoy the chapter, and see you next week, lovelies! -S


	9. Nerd Babble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, guys! There's some text in a cipher later in the chapter, so I wanted to put the cipher up here from anyone who wanted to ignore the translation in the end notes and do it yourselves. (Or you just wanted to know what cipher we used.) The cipher is a Caesar cipher with a value of two - or an ROT2, if you prefer. Anyway, enjoy the early chapter! -S

“Sans?” May said, her eyes wide. The little girl quickly scrambled to her feet, then, on still very shaky legs, she rushed over to Sans and threw her arms around the startled skeleton.

“I’m so glad to see you! I’m so sorry we broke into your basement! And please don’t be mad at June! She really didn’t want to go down there – like she really tried to talk me out of it – but I wouldn’t listen. I made her pick the lock to the basement for me, and I made her let me go take a look, even though she just wanted to leave everything alone and not invade your privacy and not touch anything and…and that whole mess was my fault, so please, please, _please_ don’t be mad at her! If anything, be mad at me, okay? I was the one messing with the machines, and –”

“Slow down, there, hun,” June finally interrupted, slowly climbing to her feet as well. “Don’t overwhelm the poor guy.”

“Oh, gosh, you’re right. Sorry. I just…I wanted to apologize, so…”

May finally let go of the small skeleton, guilt written on her little face. She stood back and dug the toe of her shoe into the ground, not looking up.

“…sorry…”

June had been quietly observing Sans the whole time May had rambled on, watching him become more and more confused with everything she said. The odd part was that there was no spark of recognition when he saw them, no hint he was ready to scold them for breaking into the basement of his house – and, most perplexing of all, he looked alarmed that May had known who he was. June narrowed her eyes at the skeleton, not sensing danger, but still wanting to keep May away from him.

Just as Sans started to speak, June cut him off.

“You have no idea what she’s talking about, do you?”

“not a clue, _tibia_ honest with you. and i’m not sure what’s more alarming, the fact that two humans are here in the core without anyone having noticed you get this far into the underground, the fact that you two seem to know me somehow and i have no recollection of who you are, or the fact that one of you has magic.”

May looked up again, surprised.

“But…how can you not know us? We saw you just a little bit ago! But…then we also saw…two of you? Fighting each other? Only, they looked different and acted different than you…and they didn’t recognize us either, come to think of it. But they also didn’t call each other Sans, they called each other Ink and Error.”

May’s eyes suddenly went wide, and she whirled to her sister, starting to panic.

“Oh my god, Ink! He was still all messed up when we left! We have to find a way back, we have to go help him! Error’s gonna kill him!”

“Hey, hey, hey. Take it easy,” June answered calmly, going down on one knee to look the younger ravenette in the eye. “I couldn’t see much, but he looked a lot better after you took care of him than when we got there. I’m sure he’s gonna be fine. He’s a big boy, after all. …er, skeleton. Anyway, I’m sure he can manage without us for a while. He was fine up until we got there, so I’m sure he’ll be okay without our help. So just take a deep breath, alright? It’ll be okay.”

May nodded, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, though the worry didn’t leave her features. June glanced over at the stranger that looked like Sans, seeing the confusion on his face…but also seeing the gears turning in his head. While what the little girl had said obviously sounded crazy and made no sense, something had him thinking. June wasn’t sure if she should be worried about what he was thinking or not.

“you two… aren’t from here, are you?”

The sisters exchanged a glance, not sure how to answer.

“Um…I’m confused…”

“Let me,” June said, standing again before looking this new Sans in the eye. “If I’m right about what’s going on here, no, we’re not.”

Before they could say another word, the girls watched as Sans started to shake minutely. As they were about to ask if he was alright, he started to ramble.

“oh my stars, this is what we’ve been looking for! well, not exactly a visitation from other places, but we’ll take what we can! this means the calculations were right - and our theory, of course! he was right all along! everyone’s going to feel so ridiculous once this gets out. they’ll have to raise our research budget. and maybe he can stop obsessing over that darned core…”

The girls just blinked at him as he got suddenly quiet, then May spoke up.

“Are you okay, Sans?”

“wha... oh! no, i’m fine. but this is something, for sure. would you two mind coming back with me to the lab? you’ll be safer there, i promise.”

Again, the girls looked at each other. June shrugged, not sure what else to do. After all, it wasn’t like it was Sans’ fault they were god-knows-where with god-knows-who who was talking about god-knows-what.

“Okay…if you say so. Let’s go, May.”

May nodded, falling in step with her sister first, then trotting to catch up with Sans.

“So…what you were talking about before…about the calculations and stuff? Can I ask?”

June smiled and rolled her eyes slightly, while Sans looked very excited.

“that all was just me getting ahead of myself. this is an interesting development, but i need to get to the lab to be sure. my mentor and partner with this one project will probably already be there, since if i found you guys, i’m sure he’d have figured it out, too. everything else is a bit harder to explain, i’m afraid, unless you have a phd.”

“Well,” May giggled, “I don’t have a PhD, but I can try to understand. If anything, I’ll at least make for a good listener.”

“i’ll have to tell you later, since we’re already here. come in and we’ll see what’s up.”

Sans then walked up to a sliding door and gestured them through first before following them, leading the way to an elevator down. Upon exiting, they immediately took a left and walked along til they got to a room full of beds, and then passed by them to a door in the back and headed left again. The hall they went down was pretty long, but they finally got to the room. Sans went straight for a computer off to the side and typed away at the keyboard, leaving the girls to walk around the small-ish room. 

“What is this place?” May asked curiously, to which Sans replied distractedly.

“this is known to most of the underground as the lab. it’s where the greatest minds gather to try and better our lives down here. there are a few other scientists here with me and my mentor, and we’re all currently working on the core, that place you fell on. when it’s up and running it should provide power to all of the underground. ah ha!”

“What? What is it?” June asked, coming over and leaning over his shoulder to look at his screen. She noticed two graphs; one that had all different colored lines and the other of a particular line, a green one, which also had a large spike in it.

“see this line? this is, in theory, our timeline. and i –”

“Wait, timeline? Are you talking like time travel or something?”

“Hey! Ink said something about timelines when I was taking care of him! He also said something about alternate universes…but I don’t know. He was still pretty messed up.”

“who’s ink? never mind, he talked about timelines? and alternative universes? and if the data is right, it means we were too! oh, he’s gonna love this. but to answer your question, you came from a different timeline, or world, than this one. imagine a clump of bubbles floating in the air. they’re touching, but don’t interact with each other and don’t even know that the others exist. now imagine something being able to move through the film of the bubbles. that is essentially what you two have done. but when you pushed though, you caused a spike of unknown energy, one that we can measure and monitor. which is fascinating.”

Sans let out a quiet breath, it finally hitting him that this was really happening. June and May just stared at him for a minute, then glanced at each other.

“That’s…” May started.

“…kind of mind-blowing,” June finished. “So I was right. You’re definitely not the Sans we know, and neither were Ink or Error. I can’t imagine, though…other timelines?”

“It sounds crazy…but up until we fell into the Underground in the first place, I would have said monsters were impossible, too.”

“wait-wait-wait, you mean to tell me you already had it figured out? how could you even…”

“It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. All three of you that we’ve met in the last…I-don’t-know-how-long…look just alike, but with different clothes…and color schemes? Anyway, after meeting and befriending the first Sans, the three of you we’ve met that look just like him had no idea who we were. That, and the difference in location means we had to be somewhere else. I don’t know that I would have guessed alternate timelines or anything like that, but it still wasn’t hard to figure out that everything’s not what it seems.”

As June explained her reasoning, May shrugged off being ignored and wandered around the office, looking again at a something that had already grabbed her interest before.

“heh, you humans are impressive. always surprising us. or that may just be-”

“Um, what’s this?” May interrupted, pointing to the machine she was looking at. June and Sans both turned to look.

“yes? oh! small human, please don’t touch that, unless you want to explode something, like say, us.”

“Oh gosh! Okay. Sorry.”

Sans then walked over to where May was now backing away from an invention that she was looking at, a strange cube with pulsing lights and a small window on its side to look inside.

“this is a prototype for the core. my partner and i worked day and night for weeks on this, but it’s not stable. so no touchy.”

Seeing that May still wanted to look at it – and considering the results of her last bout of curiosity – June decided to do something about it.

“Is it stable enough to move it somewhere else?”

“uhh…maybe? but we don’t want to risk it? why do you ask?”

“Because the last time she was curious about something, we wound up in this mess,” the ravenette leveled a scolding look at her sister, who was back to digging her toe into the floor.

“That’s not fair,” May pouted, “I didn’t mean to.”

“But you _had_ to look in the basement.”

“I couldn’t help it! It was like it called to me. I felt like I had to know what was down there…”

“And look what happened!”

“You’re not gonna let this go, are you?”

“No, because I told you we shouldn’t have been down there. We shouldn’t have invaded their privacy, we shouldn’t have touched their stuff, we shouldn’t have picked the lock to the basement – how did you talk me into that one again?”

“I…um…well you were curious too!”

“Yeah, but _I_ would have _asked_ rather than taking to breaking and entering – something I would have expected out of you, little miss goody two-shoes.”

“You could have kept saying no.”

“ _I tried! You wouldn’t listen!_ ”

"Cjgo..."

“ _What?_ ” both girls yell, looking over at the new voice. This caused the taller monster to jump back a bit in shock before looking around the two girls towards Sans.

"Uqp, yjq ctg vjgug jwocpu kp vjg Ncd?"

Sans paused, unsure of how to proceed, stammering for an answer. June and May both blinked in confusion and stared at the monster. Finally, June turned to Sans.

“What’d he say?”

“oh, do humans not know…must’ve forgotten. also, i just remembered that you two know me, but i have no idea who you are.”

The sisters paused, then May started giggling.

“He’s right! We were so busy fighting, we never introduced ourselves! Gosh, that’s rude. Sorry. I’m Mayflower Skies. Call me May!”

It took May nudging her sister to get June to say something.

“June. Juniper Skies.”

“We’re sisters! I mean, if you couldn’t tell. We only kind of look alike.”

“And act like it. I mean, who else argues like that?”

May giggled some more, then smiled sweetly at Sans.

“Sorry if our fighting scared you. We get like that sometimes. But we can’t stay mad at each other for long!”

“it’s fine, no harm done. and now to introduce myself properly. hi. i’m sans the skeleton, and this is my mentor and dad, w. d. gaster.”

There was a flash of recognition in June’s eyes at Gaster’s name, and as her mind spun itself in circles trying to figure out why something with Gaster’s name would be in the skeleton brothers’ basement, her eyes slowly narrowed. May, seeing the whirlwind of thought going on in her sister’s mind, covered by hogging both skeleton monsters’ attention.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both! Well, I guess I should add again for you, huh Sans?” the little girl laughed, turning up her cute charms as much as she could to hold their focus.

June, however, brought their attention back to her, as she suddenly swayed on her feet and groaned, clutching her head with one hand and reaching for something to steady herself with the other. May gasped and darted over, grounding the older ravenette as best she could.

“geez, you’re as pale as one of us,” Sans said, a worried look crossing his face, “are you alright, june?”

The tall teen purposely controlled her breathing to try and ease her pain as May slowly lowered her to a sit on the floor.

“I’ll…be fine…” she forced through her own clenched teeth. “Just a…a headache. It’ll pass.”

“You’re trembling, June,” May fretted, placing a gentle hand on her sister’s forehead. “This looks like more than just a headache to me.”

June waited until the pain passed from the headache to sigh and answer, running a hand through her thick midnight locks.

“Okay, you got me. That fight with Error wiped me out. I’m so tired right now, I can hardly think straight. And apparently, too much thinking is giving me one hell of a headache. Look, I hate to cut the pleasantries short, but is there somewhere we can rest?” she added to Sans, her green eyes lacking their piercing edge. The small skeleton nodded.

“that room with the beds we passed a bit ago? you can sleep there, if you like. and we can talk more once you two are back to full health.”

"Agu, fq igv uqog tguv. Yg yqwnfp'v ycpv aqw vq hckpv dgecwug aqw rwujgf aqwtugnh vqq jctf."

“Uh…thanks?” June said, guessing that what Gaster had said was a good thing. Since he smiled in return, she could only assume she had guessed right. With May and Sans’ help, June was back on her feet and walked with them back down to the room with all the beds. Once there, she dropped her pack next to one and hopped into the bed, curling up and falling asleep almost instantly. May sighed, thanked the skeleton monsters for their hospitality, then climbed into bed with her sister, pretty worn out herself from the whole day. She, too, fell asleep quickly…but not before hearing Gaster say something to Sans as they left the room.

"Jwocpu kp vjg Wpfgtitqwpf...aqw'nn jcxg vq vgnn og gxgtavjkpi aqw hqwpf."

“of course…though you’re never going to believe what i’ve learned already.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Now is probably the best time to mention this...right now, the entirety of this work is saved in a large Word document. And in Word, you can actually write in Sans' and Papyrus' fonts and the written text would still translate to AO3 without trouble. The small hitch to that is in Word, you can also write in Gaster's font, Wing Dings. But Wing Dings doesn't translate to AO3. We tossed around some ideas, including trying to figure out how to put everything in the "Zalgo" text with HTML, but in the end, it was easier for me personally to just take the translated Gaster text and put it in a cipher. Sorry if that's confusing to anyone! On that note, please let us know if you guys would prefer to have the translations after the Gaster text, here in the end notes (like we're doing in this chapter), or to just translate it yourselves with the cipher provided. Either way, the cipher used will be in the beginning notes in chapters where Gaster text appears. Thanks guys! See you next week! -S
> 
> **Credit to the creators:** [Science Sans](http://talkingsoup.tumblr.com/thescientistfanfic) (as a character). As an AU, I couldn't find a traceable creator.
> 
> **Gaster Translations:**  
>  "Ahem..."  
> "Son, who are these humans in the Lab?"  
> "Yes, do get some rest. We wouldn’t want you to faint because you pushed yourself too hard."  
> "Humans in the Underground…you’ll have to tell me everything you found."


	10. Beyond the Viewing Screen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaster's text is the same ROT2 cipher we used the last time, and as before, the translations will be in the end notes for now. Enjoy the early chapter due to scheduling conflicts, guys! -S

In the early hours of the morning, May rolled over and fell out of bed, waking herself up. She sat up on the floor and rubbed where she’d collided with the hard tile, hoping it wouldn’t bruise. Then she stood, fully intending to go back to bed…but something stopped her. Instead, she looked around, realizing how quiet it was with no one else around. Curiosity getting the better of her, she started to wander, going from room to room in the Lab. Having learned her lesson from the incident in the skeleton brothers’ basement, she only looked, rather than touching anything. But even just looking, she was fascinated by what she saw. Most of it, she couldn’t make heads or tails of on her own, but she was still interested in it all. Then she approached Sans’ office again, happening to head that direction and saw light still coming from inside. As she got closer, she heard voices and couldn’t resist hanging back in the shadows to listen in.

“…and, as it turns out, the taller one – june – she had it mostly figured out on her own. when i asked her how she knew, she explained that they had befriended another version of me. this other version of me, their version, would have recognized them right away when he saw them – but they apparently met two other alternate versions of me before coming to this timeline, and june claimed that all three of us didn’t know who they were, thus leading her to believe that none of us were the version of me they already knew.”

“Uq uhg uvwfkgf aqwt dgjcxiqtu cpf tgcnkbgf vjcv kv fkf pqv ocvej yjcv uhg mpgy aqwt tgcvkqp ujqwnf dg…jqy kpvgtguvkpi.”

“agreed. what also got my interest was that both of them actually understood what i was talking about…to some degree, anyway. even may got it, and i would have pegged her for being too young to understand.”

“Rgtjcru ujg ku aqwpi, Ucpu, dwv uq ygtg aqw, qpeg. Gxgp cu c dcda dqpgu, aqw wpfgtuvqqf owej qh oa yqtm. Yja uhqwnf c aqwpi jwocp dg cpa fkhhgtgpv?”

“heh, i guess you’re right. i just wasn’t expecting it. but that’s beside the point. something the girls said in correlation to the data leads me to believe they really are from another timeline, and it’s possible that they’ve done more than just cross to our timeline from theirs. they both mentioned people named ink and error. the way the girls put it…they, at least, seem to believe that these ink and error characters are alternate versions of me.”

May listened intently, wanting desperately to join the conversation and put in her two cents…and wishing she could understand what it was Gaster was saying.

"Jwj...rgewnkct...yjcv fkf vjga uca vjcv aqw dcug vjku wrqp?"

“may mentioned it first, saying that they had seen two of me just moments before they arrived, but that they looked differently than i did. according to her, they didn’t recognize the girls either, and called each other ink and error, rather than by my name. june backed up her claim, saying they looked almost exactly like me, but with different clothes. she also mentioned they had different color schemes, but i’m not sure what she meant by that.”

“Rgtjcru yjgp vjg jwocpu ycmg, yg ecp cum vjgo.”

Sans made a noise of agreement. Realizing there was no way she could wander down the rest of the hall and not be caught by the two skeleton monsters, May decided to come out of hiding, stepping into the light of the doorframe and knocking lightly. Both turned their heads, surprised to see her.

“Hey. I woke up and heard voices, so I came to check it out,” May said, leaning in the doorway while stifling a yawn. “Do you guys know what time it is?”

Gaster and Sans looked at each other and shrugged, Sans turning to his computer screen to check the time.

“ _two_ early if you ask me,” Sans winked, getting a giggle out of the girl. “but seriously, it’s six-oh-two. what are you doing up?”

“I fell out of bed,” the small ravenette answered honestly, coming further into the room. As she came further into the light, Gaster seemed to notice something. He gently reached down and touched May’s clothes.

“Yjcv qp gctvj ctg aqw eqxgtgf kp, ejknf?”

“Huh?” May asked, looking down at herself only because of Gaster’s reference to her clothes. “What the…when did all this get here?”

May picked lightly at her stained clothes, having only now noticed that she looked filthy. Though the majority of it was on her clothes, there were patches of her fair skin that were colored dark by whatever it was the little girl was covered in, especially on her hands and face. Sans picked up a cloth sitting on his desk and tried to help her get it off her face, but the stubborn substance refused to so much as mark the cleaning cloth.

Leaning back in confusion and looking at the cloth, Sans remarked, “i’ve heard of chemicals that’ll permanently stain clothing, but the skin, too? do you have any idea what this stuff may be?”

May scrunched her little freckled face in thought, trying to figure out what could have gotten her so dirty. When it occurred to her what it might be, she looked sad and worried…and a little frightened.

“I think it might be from Ink…” May answered, looking down at her hands rather than at the skeletons. “He was hurt really bad when we got to him, and while June was busy distracting Error, I tried to help Ink. I picked him up, and he was bleeding…like all over. But it doesn’t look or act like blood normally does, so I don’t know what it actually is.” She looked up at Sans, still very worried and scared.

“Um…I know this is gonna sound kind of weird, and maybe a little crazy, but…do you maybe have a machine that can monitor other places? Like, other universes or timelines? I’m really worried about Ink, and since we can’t go back and see him…I just wanna know if he’s okay.”

Sans and Gaster looked at each other, a little surprised by the girl’s request.

“actually, we do have a machine for that. it’s still a work in progress, so it can’t do anything more than observe, but –”

Sans was cut off by a sound that startled all three in the room. May whipped around, her blood running cold, knowing the sound all too well.

“June,” was all she murmured before tearing out of the office and back down the hall, Sans and Gaster right on her heels. When they reached the room where the girls had been sleeping, they saw the tall teen writhing in the bed, the shrieking coming from her sounding anything but human. Sans and Gaster stopped short, paralyzed by the sight for a moment, but May rushed on, jumping up on the bed and using her weight to pin her sister down.

“June! June, it’s me! It’s May! You’re dreaming again! _Wake up!_ ”

And as suddenly as it had started, the teen’s screaming stopped, and all at once, she stopped thrashing about. As the older ravenette woke up, May got off of her sister, sitting next to her on the bed, looking a little shaken. Once June was fully awake, she sat up and stretched, a yawn escaping her as if it were an after-thought. Then she looked around, her eyes landing on her sister.

“Hey. What are you doing up?”

June took a moment to study her sister’s face, and in an instant, her demeanor changed. She looked tense again, her senses on alert.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“You…you don’t remember?” May asked, perplexed. June looked hard at her sister.

“Remember what?” she said slowly. “Because I remember a lot of crazy shit that’s gone down in the past couple of days, and I need to know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m _talking_ about what just happened. You _don’t remember_ having one of your _nightmares?_ ”

Now it was June’s turn to look surprised, glancing behind May to the startled forms of Sans and Gaster still in the doorway. Her gaze returned to her sister.

“No, I don’t. Which means it wasn’t a nightmare, thank god. But why…?” June trailed off, staring off into space, a hand locked in her long hair, thinking.

“Why what?” May pushed, brushing some of her own hair out of her face.

“I haven’t had a night terror in years. Not since the actual nightmares started. So why now?”

June chewed a corner of her blood-red lips as she thought, May tilting her head to the side.

“Wait…didn’t you get those a lot when we were little? And Mom would wake you up and get all exasperated because you couldn’t remember why you’d been so scared?”

“Yeah. That’s kind of the thing with night terrors. It’s like having a nightmare, but you can’t remember it when you wake up…just that something scared the shit out of you. Trust me, it sucks.”

“And you really can’t remember anything of what you were dreaming about?”

The teen thought about it for a minute, then shook her head with a sigh.

“Nope. Not a damned thing. In fact, the weird part is that I don’t remember being scared when I woke up either. Just being tired. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why I’d start having night terrors again…”

“from what i’m hearing…you guys are alright, right?” Sans asked, edging closer. He still looked nervously at June. A look somewhere between sadness, hurt, and understanding crossed her face, but it was extremely brief, and June covered for it by looking away and sighing, running a hand through her hair again.

“No, left,” she teased, cracking one eye to look for a reaction, a smirk playing on her lips. Sans and May snorted with laughter, while Gaster smiled and shook his head.

“Vjgug jwocpu tgcnna ctg swkvg ujctr.”

June smiled, pleased with their reactions, but gave Gaster a confused look.

“What’d he say? I still can’t understand him,” she commented to Sans.

“Me either.”

“right, i forgot you guys don’t know that language. uhh…do you know sign language?”

The sisters shook their heads.

“I can speak three other languages fluently, and I’m still learning a fourth…but sign language isn’t one of them,” June said, leaning back on her hands. May settled more comfortably on the bed before adding, “The only language I know is English. Sorry.”

“well, while it does complicate things a little, it’s not a big deal,” Sans said with a shrug, “i can translate until we figure out a way for you to understand him yourselves.”

June smiled faintly, while May had a big beaming grin on her face. Both girls thanked him as he explained what Gaster had said. There was an awkward pause, then May noticed her sister’s clothes didn’t look the same as she remembered.

“Hey, it looks like you’ve got some on you too.”

“Huh?”

June glanced at herself, noticing the stains.

“Aww, what the…”

“I know. I kinda thought the same thing. I think it’s from Ink. But I have no idea how it got on you…”

Sans exclaimed, getting their attention. “may, you wanted to check on ink with our machine, right?”

Now reminded of her previous objective, May’s eyes went wide and she nodded, jumping down off the bed. June quietly got up and followed, not really sure what else to do with herself. They were lead to another hall leading out from the infirmary, past a few rows of mirrors to a backroom of sorts full of different machines in various states of creation. Sans pointed towards the machine the girls recognized from the skeleton brothers’ basement.

“here it is. i’ll just switch between views and either of you can tell me if it’s what you’re looking for.”

May started to say she knew how to work the machine from her playing with the controls before, but June elbowed her sister and shook her head, indicating that it wasn’t a good idea. May frowned and gestured as if to ask why, but June just shook her head again, if a little more firmly this time. May huffed, but quieted down. Sans and Gaster were a bit confused by the girls’ less than vocal conversation, but shrugged it off as a human thing.

The sisters watched intently as Sans slowly turned the dial that switched between the worlds. Apprehension was thick in the air. Then – 

“There!” May practically shouted, jumping forward when the screen switched to blank whiteness. Sans and Gaster jumped at the little girl’s outburst, but Gaster flicked the switches and pressed the buttons to hone in on the blank space.

“that’s the one you’re after?” Sans said, surprised. “honestly, we thought it was a glitch in the system. we just couldn’t figure out how to fix it.”

“That’s no glitch,” June confirmed darkly, stepping closer as the lines of unreadable text appeared on the screen. “It’s where we were before we came here, without a doubt.”

“Is there a way we can see if anyone’s there?” May asked, since the only things on the screen were the text and the white background. Gaster nodded, manipulating the controls to locate anyone currently in the odd space. The machine then beeped, alerting them of…something.

“it says there are two beings in universe number one-forty-one…but how…?”

“June, look! There’s…” May stopped, frozen by what they saw on the screen.

Ink wasn’t looking good, even with all May had done for him. And, worse still, Error looked as though he wasn’t even fazed by any of the combat he’d had, either with Ink or June. From the way their mouths were moving, it seemed as if they were talking, but there was no sound coming through. June opened her mouth to ask about it, but as she did, Error summoned one of his skull-like attacks and aimed it at Ink, her words becoming lodged in her throat. May’s eyes widened in horror.

“No…no, don’t!” she urged at the screen. The attack powered up, opening its mouth to fire. Ink closed his eyes, preparing himself.

“but that’s…that’s one of our blasters!” Sans remarked, barely above a whisper. “what’s he doing?”

“He’s gonna kill Ink!” June cried, grabbing for her sister.

“ _Error, don’t do it!_ ” the little girl screamed, closing her eyes.

But even if Error could have heard them, he would have fired anyway.

June trembled, watching the dust clear from the blast. May peeked at the screen, her face having been hidden by June. Sans and Gaster just watched on in mute horror and fascination.

All that was left of Ink was a smear of paint where he’d been sitting.

“Ink…no…” May murmured, tears already beginning to roll down her round cheeks. “We were too late…we-we should’ve gone back for him, we should’ve…we shouldn’t have left him alone…”

“There’s…nothing we could have done, May,” June whispered, tearing her eyes from the screen and gently stroking her sister’s hair. “He…I’m sure of it now…he sent us away to protect us. To stop Error from doing the same to us.”

“But we could have saved him! We-we could’ve – we should have done something!”

“We _couldn’t have,_ May! I wish we could change it too, but he’s gone, and there’s nothing we could have done! I’m…I’m sorry, May. I really wish there was something we could do…”

“look…!” Sans whispered pointing to the screen. They all looked back to see Error… _looking right at them through the screen._

Seeing this, they all froze, waiting to see what he’d do. He smiled, then gave a little nonchalant wave. June was the one to break the silence.

“He knew…” she murmured, blinking. Instantly, her calm and cool demeanor was gone, and she was nothing but a tower of barely contained rage.

“The whole time, he fucking knew we were watching. That…that…”

She was trembling again, but for an entirely different reason than before. May touched her sister’s arm, whispering her name. June didn’t even hear her.

“ _That son of a bitch!_ ”

It took Gaster, May, and Sans together holding her back so she wouldn’t attack the machine, screaming profanities as every other word. Grunting under the strain of the girl’s wrath, Gaster shouted over her to Sans.

“Ucpu! Aqwt dnwg ocike! Swkemna!”

“r-right!” Sans replied, readying himself to contain the raging teen. “on the count of three, let go of her. one…two…three!”

Together, all three let go of June, but at the same time, Sans used his magic to hold her in place, her Soul dropping to the ground in front of her and not budging. They all three panted from the effort of keeping June contained, May looking back to the screen when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.

“Wha…? What’s he doing?” the little girl asked, pointing to the monitor again. Now they all four watched Error turn around and sweep his hand in front of himself, parting the whiteness in front of him. He then looked at them over his shoulder and waved again, as if to say good bye (which triggered another round of profanities from June), then stepped through. Suddenly, the screen went to static and made an alarming glitchy noise, and they watched from a new vantage point as Error stepped through the hole he’d created into another universe.

After a moment, May seemed to remember something.

“Oh my god…”

June instantly changed again, her fiery rage turning into concern for her sister, using her own powers to make Sans let her go.

“What is it, sis?” she said gently, kneeling next to the smaller ravenette.

“I just remembered…Ink…he told me something about Error. While you guys were fighting, he told me Error wants to destroy all the other universes…”

The look of shock on June’s face was only matched by Gaster’s and Sans’ shock, staring at the little girl.

“why? why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t get the chance to tell me. But June? When you said there’s nothing we could do? It occurred to me…Ink was fighting to stop Error from destroying the other worlds, right? Well, since he can’t…we have to. We have to find a way to follow Error and stop him.”

June looked surprised, but any kind of protest she had died when she saw the look of determination on May’s face. May was a kind and gentle child through and through…but when she was passionate about something, you got out of her way. And Error had kindled a fire in her heart that wasn’t going to be denied.

“We were too late to save Ink…but we can save the others. I just know it! And…and if you don’t want to come with me…I understand.”

“Fuck that. I’m not letting you face that creep on your own. And you’re right. Someone has to take up the gauntlet, so it might as well be us. Besides…” June paused, her anger flaring again as her many tattoos flashed and pulsed as she cycled through her powers quickly. “That asshole and I have some unfinished business. So count me in, little sis. I’m ready to kick some ass when you are.”

May nodded, her icy eyes sparkling with the same confidence that fueled her sister. Then she turned to Sans and Gaster.

“Guys, in order to do this, we’re gonna need some help. We’ll need a way to travel between the worlds like Error does, and a way to keep track of where he’s going. We can’t do that ourselves. Can we count on you to help?”

Sans and Gaster only needed to glance at each other to know.

“well, i’m sure we could jerry-rig something, but i don’t know how well it’d work, especially with the time crunch if he did just leave to another universe… what do you think gaster?”

“Kv ecp dg fqpg kp c fca, c hgy cv oquv. Dwv ctg aqw vyq uwtg aqw ycpv vq fq vjka? Kv yknn dg xgta fcpigtqwu.”

After listening to Sans’ translation, May nodded once, her conviction never wavering.

“Like I said, someone needs to save those other universes. And since Ink can’t, it’s up to us!”

June smirked a little confident grin.

“And were she goes, I go. After all, if she’s out saving other universes, someone needs to watch her back, too.”

Gaster nodded, seeing they were resolute.

“Xgta ygnn. Vjqwij uqogqpg yknn jcxg vq ycvej Rcratwu yjkng yg yqtm…”

“Babysitting Paps?” June answered, “Piece of cake. We can do that while you guys are busy. Where is he?”

“at our house in snowdin. i can take you there. come with me,” Sans gestured for them to step closer. May did without hesitation, but June paused, seeming to weigh the options before sighing and doing the same. Sans then reached out and held on to both of them, one of his eyes flashing blue for a second.

“you’ll want to close your eyes and hold on.”

The girls complied, bracing themselves. There was a sudden feeling of weightlessness that took their breath away, but in the next second, it was gone, and he was letting go.

“here we are,” he said, gesturing to the house. “make yourselves at home.”

June and May looked around, perplexed at how they’d moved from the Lab to Snowdin so quickly.

“Wait, can you…?”

“Teleportation. Well _that_ explains a lot.”

Sans grinned and chuckled before leading them into the house.

“we’ll need to start work right away, but i figure i have time to introduce you to paps.”

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a small blur flew into Sans’ legs, almost knocking him down.

“SANS! YOU’RE HOME EARLY!!”

“yep,” Sans smiled down at his little brother, “and i brought some new friends for you. this is may and june. they’re here to keep you company while me and dad work on something in the lab.”

Little Papyrus looked up and frowned, clinging to Sans desperately.

“BUT YOU JUST GOT HERE…DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO LEAVE?”

“sorry, paps. if we could stay, you know we’d both be here. what we’re working on is probably the most important thing we’ve ever done, so we really need to focus on it for a little while. but i promise, as soon as we’re done, i’ll convince dad to let us do something fun together, okay?”

Papyrus frowned again, but nodded and let go of his brother.

“HURRY BACK,” he said in a small voice.

Sans gently patted Papyrus’ head before turning away to leave.

“Don’t worry, Sans,” June said reassuringly, laying a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll take good care of him. May’s awesome with other kids, and well…at least I can keep them out of trouble. You just focus on what you need to do. Oh, and…thanks.”

Sans looked confused. After June’s fainting spell, night terror, and fit of rage, it was a bit of a surprise to see that she actually had more to her than just dark and brooding.

“for what? helping you guys save these other timelines? it’s not like we could say no…”

“Maybe not,” June said with a wry chuckle, “but we’ve kind of put you through a lot of drama already. And now we’re roping you into helping us be all heroic and junk. Yet, for all the trouble we’ve caused, you’re still willing to help without thinking twice about it or asking anything in return. Truthfully, I don’t know that I’d be as cool about it as you guys have been. Besides, this really means a lot to May, and you guys helping her out means a lot to me. So…thanks.”

A blue blush began to creep up on Sans’ face, and he stammered out a hasty, “y-you’re welcome. r-really, think nothing of it! thanks for helping watch paps while we work. speaking of, i-i’d better get going. we’ll come get you when it’s done!”

And he teleported away, leaving a very confused June standing in the doorway.

“Come on, June! You’re letting the cold in!”

The tall teen turned back into the house with a shrug, closing the door behind her. She was surprised to find that little Papyrus (whom May was fawning over since he was smaller than she was) had already wrapped his scarf around May and found his way into the older girl’s pack, the two kids already coloring on each other in her permanent markers. June stared at them for a second before sighing and running a hand through her midnight hair.

It seemed watching Papyrus might be more difficult than she first thought…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Gaster Translations:**  
>  "So she studied your behaviors and realized that it did not match what she knew your reactions should be…how interesting."  
> "Perhaps she is young, Sans, but so were you, once. Even as a baby bones, you understood much of my work. Why should a young human be any different?"  
> "Huh…peculiar…what did they say that you base this upon?"  
> "Perhaps when the humans wake, we can ask them."  
> "What on earth are you covered in, child?"  
> "These humans really are quite sharp."  
> "Sans! Your blue magic! Quickly!"  
> "It can be done in a day, a few at most. But are you two sure you want to do this? It will be very dangerous."  
> "Very well. Though someone will have to watch Papyrus while we work…"


	11. Point of No Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, Gaster's speech is in our ROT2 cipher. However, I put the translations in after Gaster's speech this time to try something new. Enjoy and see you next week! -S

It did take a few days for them to finish, but Sans came to get the girls as promised when they finally had something. The excitement he had was contagious, bringing not only the girls, but Papyrus to the Lab too. (That, and Papyrus had grown so attached to the sisters that when he found out they’d be leaving, he insisted on being there to see them off.)

When they got to the Lab, Sans asked them both to hold out their wrists. When they did, he strapped what looked like a pair of high-tech watches to them.

“What is it?” May asked, looking at it in confusion.

“More importantly, what does it do?”

Sans smiled, clearly eager to tell them.

“well, to answer your questions, they’re devices similar to our larger one we showed you earlier that, once activated, can not only pinpoint the location of the energy signatures like the one you arrived with in each dimension but it can, in a sense, pull you along that energy, in essence teleporting you between the different universes.”

May tried to process what he said, but it didn’t make sense to her, so she just tilted her head in confusion. It took a minute, but June remembered what he meant.

“You mean that spike we saw on that one chart? The energy you were measuring when we got here?”

“that’s the one. but getting you through to different universes isn’t all it can do. it’s also been programed so it can communicate with us here, so we can not only keep track of where you are, but we can talk to you, too. that way, we can inform you from here if there are any updates to error’s location while you’re out looking for him.”

“Ucpu vjqwijv vq cff kp uqogvjkpi vjcv yknn vtcpuncvg yjcv K uca uq vjcv aqw ecp wpfgtuvcpf og ykvjqwv jku jgnr. K owuv ucavjcv kv ycu c ykug ejqkeg, cu jg yqp’v cnycau dg jgtg vq vtcpuncvg hqt og.” _(Sans thought to add in something that will translate what I say so that you can understand me without his help. I must say that it was a wise choice, as he won't always be here to translate for me.)_

May looked a bit mystified to finally understand Gaster. June seemed to be pleasantly surprised, but still skeptical.

“Well, we know the translation part works. But have you guys tested the rest of it? Like, how do we know these things aren’t going to short out on us and leave us stranded somewhere – assuming they can actually get us to other universes in the first place.”

“actually…no, we haven’t tested it yet. we haven’t had time. so, while there’s no guarantee there won’t be a few…errors…it’s the best we can do with what limited time we have.”

“Sans is right,” May said, turning to her sister, that resolute look in her eyes again. “We’re already asking a lot of them to help us, and if we had the time to perfect them, we probably wouldn’t need them in the first place. Right now, we have to take what we can get. And if these do what they’re supposed to, then that’s good enough.”

June sighed and nodded, putting a hand on her hip.

“I know, I know. You’re right. I guess I’m just worried something’s gonna go wrong.”

May rolled her eyes.

“You’re such a pessimist. On the note of your being worried, we should probably check that the communication function works too. It’d suck for us to get out of here and not be able to check back in with you guys after all.”

They all nodded their agreement, and Sans started up the world-viewing machine, Gaster working the controls.

“Vjg eqoowpkecvkqp hwpevkqp ku ogcpv vq eqqtfkpcvg ykvj vjku ocejkpg, uq yg ecp qdugtxg aqw cpf vjku Gttqt ejctcevgt cv vjg ucog vkog.” _(The communication function is meant to coordinate with this machine, so we can observe you and this Error character at the same time.)_

“it seemed more efficient that way.”

The girls nodded, watching the boys work the machine. When Gaster stepped away from the controls, the screen displayed nothing but static.

“okay,” Sans said, turning to the girls, “one of you stand at the other end of the room, and the other follow gaster to another room. we need to test distance.”

The girls nodded, May going to stand at the other end of the room they were in, and June following Gaster all the way out to the elevator before stopping.

As Sans was instructing May how to work the controls on the device, Gaster just had June stick out hers for him to mess with in silence. When it was ready, there was a burst of static from both devices, making the girls jump a bit, but then the small screens turned on and displayed a clear picture of Sans, with the Lab as his background. Both girls instinctively raised the faces of the devices so they could be seen.

“the picture’s coming through perfectly. how’s the sound?”

“ _Sounds_ fine to me!” May giggled.

“A little high if you ask me, but it’ll do. May’s audio is coming through clearly for me, too…but I can’t see her.”

“I can’t see you either, June.”

“the screen was too small to split it between the lab and both devices. but glad to hear the communication between the devices themselves is working fine. and good news is, you’re both coming through loud and clear. hopefully it’ll keep working this well when you two move to the next timeline.”

“Speaking of, where’d that little…”

“June.”

“… _piece of work_ go?” she said carefully, censoring herself since Papyrus could hear them too. Sans looked at a different part of the screen, working the controls himself for the machine. Gaster looked over June’s shoulder at the screen of the device, curious.

“looks like…huh. he hasn’t left the universe we saw him cross through. it’s number one. if you hurry, you might catch him early.”

June instantly dropped her wrist, power walking back to the room with May, Gaster only just keeping up with her.

“How do we get it to go?” she asked as she briskly walked back into the room. May instantly jumped to her sister’s side.

“that little knob on the side? twist it until it reads the number of the universe you want to go to. i’ve programmed them so you can read them this time, too. oh, and when you find the universe you want to go to, press the knob in, like on a watch. it’ll pop back out on it’s own once you reach your destination.”

June nodded, and both girls spun the dials until the displays landed on the correct number.

“Time to test these bad boys out. Ready?”

May nodded, finally starting to look apprehensive, but still willing to go through with it.

“On three. One.”

“Two.”

“Three!” they exclaimed together, pressing the button to activate them at the exact same moment as Sans cried out, “wait!”

But it was too late to stop it now. The girls gasped as they were both enveloped in bright light, just like when they’d been inside the transportation/world viewing machine in the skeleton brothers’ basement, and they levitated in the air slightly.

“Here we go!” June cried, the light becoming blinding.

“Oh, wait!” May remembered at the last second, turning towards the watching skeletons as best she could. “Bye, Papyrus!”

The little skeleton monster perked up upon hearing his name and shouted back, “NO GOODBYES!! JUST SEE YOU LATERS!!”

May smiled, intending to correct herself, but the light around the sisters flashed brilliantly, cutting off her response.

Just like that, the girls were gone, the Lab setting replaced by empty air and a forest of snow-covered trees below them. Yep, the forest was below them – they found themselves plummeting through the air once more, May shrieking in fear. June, thinking fast, used her powers to spread angel-like wings from the tattoo on her back and catch herself, speeding to snatch the falling little girl and safely lower them to the ground. May was pale and trembling, collapsing in the snow when June set her down. After June was settled on the ground herself and put her wings away, May found her voice again.

“Th-that’s becoming a habit! Geez!”

“Tell me about it. I mean, I can catch myself in any number of ways, no problem. But you? This appearing out of thin air and falling routine is getting real old, real fast.”

“You said it…”

“So where the heck are we, anyway?”

“It…it looks like…the forest outside Snowdin,” May answered, having recovered enough to climb to her feet. “But…something’s off. It’s so dark here…and kinda creepy.”

June hummed in thought, surveying their surroundings and realizing May was right. Then she thought to check her device.

“Too bad this thing can’t tell us where we are beyond a number…guess the boys didn’t think to name the universes.”

“Well, you heard Sans before. There are hundreds of universes, if not thousands, or more. There’s no way they could name all of them. It’d take too long.”

“I guess you’re right. I wonder, though…” June fiddled with the controls of her device to turn on the communication function again, the travel having apparently shut it off. Once the screen flickered to life, a slightly grainy image of Sans and Gaster stared back at her.

“Hey guys. Can you hear me okay? May, turn on yours too.”

“Huh? Oh, right!”

“you’re coming through loud and clear, june. but – oh, there she is. okay, i’m getting readings from may’s now too. good. i tried to tell you before you took off, but you’d already hit the buttons to go – error left. you just missed him.”

“What? Ugh, sh…crap,” June corrected, spotting Papyrus in the background. “So where is he now?”

“we don’t know. wherever he is, we can’t track him there. there’s nothing but static, not even a universe number. for now, the only thing it looks like we can do is try to figure out why he was in universe one for so long, what he did, and wait until he comes back into our sights. sorry, guys.”

“It’s okay, Sans,” May reassured, a gentle, encouraging smile on her face. “You guys are doing your best. That’s all we can ask.”

“Speaking of asking things, what can you tell us about this universe?”

“Xgta nkvvng. Kv ku c owej fctmgt wpkxgtug vjcp uqog qh vjg qvjgtu. Oquv vjkpiu vjcv jqnf vtwg kp vjg qvjgt wpkxgtugu fq pqv vjgtg. Cpf htqo yjcv yg’xg uggp, kv crrgctu vq dg c jkijna jquvkng wpkxgtug cu ygnn. Dg xgta ectghwn, aqw vyq.” _(Very little. It is a much darker universe than some of the others. Most things that hold true in the other universes do not there. And from what we've seen, it appears to be a highly hostile universe as well. Be very careful, you two.)_

“Right. We’ll keep out eyes peeled for trouble, then.”

“Skies sisters, out!” May chirped, disconnecting the call. June did the same, chuckling as she did.

“What?”

“Skies sisters out?”

“What?” the little girl squeaked, more indignant than before.

“Nothing, nothing. Just loving how cute you are, that’s all.”

“Shut up…”

June laughed some more, starting to walk towards Snowdin Town.

“Come on. We need to figure out what’s going on around here and put a stop to Error’s…whatever it is he’s doing. I think Snowdin was this way.”

“Okay.” May replied, falling in step with her sister.

They walked in silence most of the way.


	12. We Didn't Know Where to Stop...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _ **POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!**_ There is a small mention of severe injury and blood at the end of the chapter. There won't be a summary this time, since it's at the very end, but the section will be marked with a line of exclamation points at the beginning and end, so those who want to can avoid it.

June wasn’t prone to paranoia, but this universe had her on edge. May, too, could feel the danger in the air, and practically clung to her sister, a little scared herself. When they were almost to Snowdin Town after a rather tense but uneventful walk, May finally spoke up.

“Maybe playing some music would make it less scary…”

June hesitated, thinking of a couple good reasons to say no, but the thought nagged at her: May was scared. June could handle being on edge herself, but May needed something to break the tension.

“Sounds good,” the teen answered, pulling out her headphones and music player. “What’d you have in mind?”

“Something…upbeat. And inspiring. And fun!” May giggled, already relaxing. “Something that’ll lift the mood.”

“Alright. Let’s see what we’ve got on shuffle, then.”

June hit play, and the first song that came on was a slow country song. June’s face made May laugh, but the song was quickly vetoed by both girls.

“Sometimes, I wonder what drives your taste in music.”

“You never had to share your MP3 with me, you know. You’re just nice enough that you did.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Another slow song came on, which was again skipped. Then a song came on that made May gasp, her eye’s lighting up.

“Oh my gosh! Battle Scars by Paradise Fears! Can we sing this one? Please?”

June blushed a little looking around self-consciously.

“I-I dunno, May…”

“Aw, come on! We haven’t sung together since the custody thing started. I really miss it. Besides, it’s not like there’s anyone around. Just you and me. No judgement, just fun. Please?”

June felt bad because she was hesitating about it. In truth, she enjoyed their sisterly bonding of singing along to songs and making up their own choreography as they went, but they had only ever sung and danced together in the safety of June’s apartment or the home May shared with their mother. June, while having grown out of her shyness to dance in public, still refused to sing in the presence of anyone but her sister, which was why she hesitated now. However, given that they hadn’t seen or heard any signs of life the whole walk…

“Ugh, alright. I’ll start it over,” June sighed, caving. May beamed, and as soon as the vocals started, they sang together.

June soloed the first verse and the first half of the chorus, her soft resonating alto giving the words an earthy quality.

“ _I’ll carry you home. No, you’re not alone. Keep marching on; this is worth fighting for. You know we’ve all got battle scars._ ”

“ _You’ve had enough. But just don’t give up. Stick to your guns; you are worth fighting for. You know we’ve all got battle scars. Keep marching on…_ ”

May took the second half of the chorus and the second verse, her sweet lilting soprano bringing an ethereal something to contrast June’s earthy-ness. Again, the sisters split the chorus, then June took over for the rap section of the song, May really getting into the dancing. When the chorus came again, they split it one last time, then sang in unison until the end. May giggled as June hit the pause button, stopping whatever song was coming on next.

“See? That was so much fun, wasn’t it?”

Then they heard someone scoff behind them.

Both girls stopped in their tracks, June stiffening much more than May. They both turned to see alternate versions of Sans and Papyrus standing behind them, both trying to hide that they’d been very moved by the song. June’s face went entirely red.

“You said there was no one around!” she shouted, wheeling on May.

“How was I supposed to know they were close enough to hear us?” May squeaked back, a blush of her own forming – though not nearly as intense as her sister’s.

June groaned and slapped her hands over her superheated face, a lame attempt to hide. She turned and stalked off towards Snowdin Town again, May, Sans, and Papyrus following her.

“Would it help if I said sorry?”

“Not really,” she answered through her hands.

“why are you so embarrassed? that was actually pretty kick-ass,” Sans said, pulling on his jacket nervously. June stopped walking suddenly, dropping her hands and turning so fast it almost made May and Sans walk into her.

“I don’t want to hear another word out of you – either of you,” she growled menacingly, her face still cherry-red, “That did not just happen. You didn’t see or hear anything until I say otherwise. Understood?”

The alternate Papyrus scoffed again and barked, “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO TELL US WHAT TO DO, HUMAN?”

June’s piercing green eyes flashed, her fists clenching as her anger flared. Flames sprouted on her hands, her flame tattoos glowing under the flames on her hands.

“You wanna go, punk?” she threatened, taking a step closer to him, her voice dropping even lower. Sans and Papyrus both stepped back, trying not to look too alarmed. May jumped between her sister and the skeleton brothers, throwing her arms out instinctively.

“June, no.”

“He’s askin’ for it.”

“June, _no._ ”

The teen actually growled this time, the flames climbing up her arms a bit as she did. Then she settled down, the flames dying out. She folded her arms across her chest with a huff, turning her back to them all before grumbling under her breath and stalking off towards Snowdin Town again. May sighed in relief, turning back to the boys.

“Sorry about my sister. She’s…um…you really don’t want to rile her up.”

“dually noted. i’d say that was _hot,_ but really, i think she needs to _chill out._ how about we all head to grillby’s so she can cool her head?”

May paused, giggling at Sans’ puns before replying, “I’ll see if I can talk her into it. Hang on.”

May darted after her sister, calling her name and tugging on her elbow to get the older girl’s attention.

“Hey, so the guys want to make up for upsetting you. They want to go to Grillby’s.”

“No way.”

“Come on, June. They want to try to apologize!”

“For what? _Nothing happened,_ ” she insisted, still walking, knowing the skeleton brothers were trailing behind them without having to look. May rolled her eyes.

“Okay, _fine._ They want to make up for making you mad over nothing. But they still want to make it up to you…sort of. Just say yes? Please? If nothing else, they can help us find Error. Talking to them could help us figure out what he was doing here for so long.”

June slowed down, considering it. Then she groaned, realizing her sister was right, and ran a hand through her hair. Then she turned back to the boys, who stopped where they were.

“Where to?” she sighed, knotting her hand in her hair, an annoyed pout on her blood-red lips. Sans smiled some, seeming relieved that she agreed to go.

“it’s in snowdin, just a ways away from our place. the boss won’t be joining us since he says it’s a place weak people gather. i think he’s just peeved they don’t serve spaghetti.”

“NOT SO FAST, BROTHER. I NEED TO GO WITH YOU, AS I DO NOT TRUST YOU TO WATCH THE HUMANS WITHOUT FAILING SOMEHOW. LIKE YOU USUALLY DO.” Papyrus then started to walk away, but turned around and, pointing a finger towards Sans, said, “AND I DON’T CARE IF HE DOESN’T MAKE SPAGHETTI, I MAKE IT THE BEST WAY!”

He then continued to town, expecting the others to follow – not that they had a choice. Not much was said along the way, at least not by June or Papyrus. May would occasionally have a few words with Sans before he would fall silent. As they all got closer to town, the girls noticed that some of the monsters seemed to watch them before quickly looking away, some even moving out of their way or hiding. This confused June, making her even more suspicious than when they first got to the universe. She also noticed how May had unconsciously shifted nearer to her.

“Somebody wanna tell me why everyone here seems so skittish?” June asked, putting a protective arm around May nonchalantly. They had made it inside the building, taking one of the booths near to the back, Sans waiting until they’d gotten settled before trying to speak. As Sans started to answer them, however, Papyrus cut him off.

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, HUMAN! AND AS SOON AS WE ARE DONE HERE, I WILL TAKE YOU TO ASGORE! HMPH!!”

“Where have we heard that one before…” June muttered under her breath, earning her a scolding look from May.

“WHAT WAS THAT?”

“Nothing, Papyrus. Nothing at all.”

Papyrus stopped cold and stared at her. Sans stared, too.

“we never introduced ourselves.”

June blinked, realizing.

“Riiiiiight…I kind of forgot about that little detail.”

“Um, maybe I should do introductions,” May added, bringing attention to her as she scooted closer to the boys and stuck her hand out for Sans to shake. “So, I’m May. And the tall grumpy one is my sister, June.”

“Hey!”

“And, um…we kind of have some explaining to do. Like, a lot. Should I start…?” she asked her sister, who shrugged as if she didn’t care.

“Okay, then…where to start…so, um, we’re kind of not from this world.”

“wait, don’t tell me you guys are aliens or some shit,” Sans interrupted, looking very interested in their answer. May giggled, relaxing some.

“No, we’re not. We’re very much human. We’ve just been travelling between different dimensions.”

“As if that clarifies everything,” June snorted, “There’s probably a better way to explain this…”

“Well if you can come up with something better, you explain it.”

The sisters mock each other for a minute, making faces at each other until they laughed together, earning them some strange looks. Both ignored them. They turned back to the boys in better spirits than they were than they walked in.

“Anyway, so the dimension we’re from, we already know you guys. In fact, we’re friends!”

Both skeletons recoiled in shock and horror, though whether it was faked or not, the girls couldn’t tell.

“Yeah…and we kind of had this…accident is a good way to describe it, I guess?” June added, taking over. “And we wound up somewhere else, with two other versions of Sans.”

“Who were fighting each other.”

“Yep. And we helped, but it wasn’t enough. We were forced to leave by one of them, and we ended up in another universe with yet another version of Sans.”

“Who was more like a scientist.”

“And he and his partner helped us check on the fight.”

“But one of the Sanses…he…”

May got quiet, withdrawing some as she looked down at herself and her stained clothes and skin. June cast her eyes down, putting a supportive hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“One of them killed the other. Immediately after that, he came here. And he left just as we got here. The scientist Sans helped us get here, but now we have no idea where the killer Sans went or what he was doing here.”

“And that’s part of why we’re here!” May chirped, cheering up right away, then going right back to being serious. “We’re trying to follow the bad guy Sans and stop him from destroying all the other universes. So, if something weird is going on here, it’s most likely because of him.”

“I’m guessing everyone being all skittish around us is something weird, so if you’d like to revise your previous statement about that…” the teen arched an eyebrow at Papyrus, waiting for a correction.

The boys were silent, sharing a look before Sans spoke up.

“that’s quite a story, but it’s kinda hard not to believe you when it fits what’s been goin’ on around here.” He looked a little nervous, pulling on the edge of his hoodie and then glancing over at Papyrus, who seems to be torn about telling the girls, then finished. “everyone’s suddenly lost their magic. everyone’s so weak now. no one knows how it happened or why, but it’s putting us on edge, more so than usual. your explanation fits, but i don’t think there’s anything you can do to help us.”

May and June were speechless, though June was doing a better job of keeping a calm façade than her little sister. June had become so accustomed to her powers, she couldn’t think how she’d live without them. Given that monsters were practically made of magic from what she’d seen…she had to wonder how it was really affecting them to lose it.

“That’s…that’s awful!” May gasped softly, concern and compassion thick in her voice. Her eyebrows knitted together and every ounce of her little being said that her heart went out to them.

“There must be a way to fix it. There _has_ to be a way! And we’re gonna find it. Right, sis?” May suddenly turned to her sister, her icy-blue hues burning bright with the passion of her desire to help them. June was actually caught off guard, since it was so rare for May to be intense about anything.

“I – uh – s-sure, I guess. I mean, it’s not like we can leave you hanging. Sure, you say you don’t think we can help, but…the guy we’re looking for – he had to take away your magic somehow, right? So if there’s a way to do that, there’s bound to be a way to reverse the process. And like they always say, where there’s a will, there’s a way. At least one of us has the will,” she teased, rubbing the top of her giggling little sister’s head gently, “so the only thing to do now is find the way.”

She smiled, but she didn’t feel as confident as her smile and voice made it seem. Honestly, she had her doubts that there was much they could do, but with May’s determination to help those around her, they had to at least try. The only problem was where to start.

“Okay, so…um…I guess we should start by asking if anyone saw Error while he was here, huh?”

Sans and Papyrus gave the girls quizzical looks.

“who’s error?”

“He’s the killer Sans we were talking about. He apparently calls himself Error. I mean, makes sense, in a weird kind of way. He…uh, how do I do this…” June muttered, trying to think of how to describe Error to them, then sighed. “Hang on, this’ll be easier.”

She quickly fished a pad and pencil out of her bag and started sketching. After a few minutes of quiet drawing, soft muttering, erasing, re-drawing, and coloring with various pens or colored pencils, she finally stopped and stared at what she’d drawn for a minute, as if trying to decide if it looked how she wanted. Then she sighed and laid the pad down on the table, turning it so they could see.

“This is Error. Or as close as I could come to what he looks like.”

An almost spot-on drawing of Error midway through launching his blue string attack sat on the table between the girls and the skeleton monsters. May got wide-eyed looking at it, and Papyrus stared between the sketch and Sans. Sans stared at it, sweating some, his eye glowing red. June wondered for a minute if his eye had always done that, or if it was just kicking in now. And why it was only one eye that glowed.

“And June’s incredible artistic ability strikes everyone speechless yet again,” May said in a wavering voice, looking half afraid Error might jump off the page and attack them.

“i’ll say…that’s one damned realistic drawing…”

June, seeing the effect it was having on the others, snatched up the drawing and ripped it out of the pad, folding it up before putting it back on the table.

“Yeah, well, now you know what he looks like. Have ya seen him before?”

The boys shook their heads.

“I WOULD REMEMBER SEEING SOMEONE WITH THAT LEVEL OF LIKENESS TO MY BROTHER.”

“yeah, never seen him. and i’m pretty sure no one else here has, because they’d have brought it up to me if they had. i mean, it’s kind of fuckin’ creepy how much alike we are…”

“Yeah, but he’s a different version. Like, he’s you…but not _you,_ you. If that makes any sense,” May said, trying to comfort the dark and brooding skeleton. If her words had any impact, it wasn’t clear, but Sans did mutter a half-hearted, “yeah, whatever,” in her direction. Still, she offered a gentle and comforting smile.

“Well, at least we know that whatever he did, then, he somehow managed to do it without coming into direct contact with anyone for the few days he was here.”

May nodded, the spark coming back to her eyes.

“Yep, and that’s a start! Not much of one, but a start nonetheless!”

She beamed happily, encouraged. Her enthusiasm was infectious, getting the others to smile too, despite themselves.

“So, um…what now?”

“I haven’t the damnedest clue.”

The sisters laughed, and June grabbed the folded drawing off the table to stick it in her pocket…then made a face, confused by what her hand brushed.

“What is it? Something wrong?” May asked, seeing her sister’s face.

June pulled out the offending item and for them to see.

“Is that…?”

“The lock from the basement,” June confirmed, equally as straight faced as her sister. They both stared at it for a minute before they started busting up laughing.

“Why do you even _have_ that?”

“I stuck it in my pocket after taking it off the doors and forgot it was there this whole time!”

Now Sans and Papyrus were just confused, and after their laughter finally died down, the girls explained how the lock found its way into June’s pocket and how they got into this unfortunate mess in the first place. Sans seemed to know exactly what they were talking about, and even looked surprised and a little alarmed at their accurate description of the basement and world-viewing machine. June could guess that if he’d had any doubts about their story before, that had certainly eliminated them.

“So what are you going to do with it?” May asked, still smiling widely.

“Well, I think I’ll keep it. At least until we can get it back to our Sans, I mean. Won’t do me much good other than the occasional laugh otherwise,” June answered, pocketing the lock again. It wasn’t until then that she noticed Papyrus had stopped listening to them and was looking at her sketch pad with interest, actually flipping through the pages to look at her drawings. May noticed too.

“You like her stuff?”

“HMM?”

“June’s drawings. You like them?”

“THEY ARE QUITE SKILLED AND REALISTIC. I FIND THEM ODDLY FASCINATING TO LOOK AT.”

May’s smile grew until she was beaming with pride, while June tried to hide, a little embarrassed by the attention.

“Yeah, she’s really good. I keep telling her she should be an artist for a living or something, but she’s not sure about it.”

“They’re just stupid doodles anyway…”

“No they’re not! I’ve seen you when you really get after it! You get all inspired and you go kinda nuts with the details, and it always looks amazing. Celest always thought so too, or she never would have recommended her clients to you as their tattoo designer.”

“who the hell is celest?”

“Our godmother. Well, officially, just mine, but she kind of basically adopted May too, so…anyway, she runs a tattoo parlor back in our hometown.”

“and a tattoo is…?”

June blinked, then realized.

“Ah. Right. Skeletons who’ve had no human interaction up til now. Um, so these pictures all over my skin? They’re tattoos. Humans use needles and ink to do this to ourselves or each other. But you have to know what you’re doing before getting a tattoo done, because they’re pretty much permanent. I like it because it’s another form of art and self-expression.”

“One that she’s really good at. All these you see she has? She designed them herself!”

June got that bashful and modest look again, and Sans pulled the sketch pad out of Papyrus’ hands to see, glancing over at the heavily inked teen to examine her handiwork.

“no shit?”

May nodded, proud of her sister. Sans seemed impressed, really examining her drawings.

“well, you’d have to be pretty damn good for people to want this stuff on them permanently.”

“So logic follows that she’s freaking awesome at it, right?”

“Would you stop? Seriously? You don’t need to gush over me like that. The drawings in that one aren’t even my best…”

“Yeah, your best work you wear on your sleeve – literally, since your tattoos are some of your best designs.”

“THESE TATTOOS OF YOURS…DO THEY SERVE A PURPOSE?”

June hesitated before answering, trying to think how best to word her answer.

“Yes and no. For other humans, they don’t actually do anything more than look cool, or serve as mementos of something, like a loved one who’s died, or an important event. For me, they’re more…well, they serve a number of functions. One, they look cool as hell. Two, they cover up my scars. Three, they give me my powers.”

She had both boys’ interest now, and they were hanging on her every word.

“YOU HAVE SCARS? WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO COVER A STATUS SYMBOL THAT SHOULD GIVE YOU PRIDE?”

“and what the hell do you mean they give you your powers? was the ink infused with magic somehow?”

“Uh, okay, hang on. One at a time, boys. Papyrus first. I originally wanted to cover them up because I thought they looked ugly, and the tattoos made me feel beautiful again. I know, it sounds kind of silly, but…well, I was little when the idea came to me. It made sense at the time,” she shrugged, blushing a little. “And besides…where we come from, scars aren’t a status symbol, and they don’t give you pride. They make people pity you. And I’m not the kind of girl who needs pity.”

June added the last part darkly, tossing her dark hair defiantly. The skeletons stared at her with what seemed to be a mixture of awe and respect.

“And as for Sans’ question…” she sighed, getting back to her point, “no, I don’t think the ink was infused with magic. It’d be cool if that were the explanation, but the tattoos themselves have nothing to do with it.”

“but you said –”

“Hang on. I’m getting there. See, I didn’t always have all these tattoos. The first one was when I was five, and that one was the set of angel wings and Gaelic words on my back. Even though weird things had been happening around me for a long time before that, it seemed like that the tattoos gave an outlet to whatever was inside me causing all the weird stuff to happen. Didn’t figure it all out until I was seven.”

“what happened then?”

“I…had a particularly rough day. I’m not going into detail about it now, so don’t ask. But when I was alone, I was feeling really down. I was angry and sad and hurt and desperate, and I wished there was some way out of the situation I was in. I wished the angel wings on my back were real so I could fly away and never come back. Then it happened. My tattoo… there’s no good word for what happened next, but in essence, the tattoo wings became real ones. And you could say I was pretty damn shocked. I mean, I’d never heard of people just up and sprouting wings on a whim. To this day, I’ve never been able to find another human with powers like mine.”

“SO…WHAT YOU ARE SAYING…YOU ARE THE ONLY HUMAN TO POSSESS MAGIC?”

“Bingo. At least, as far as I know. I’ve never been able to track down another one, if there even is or ever was such a thing. But it’s whatever,” she shrugged, brushing it off. “Anyway, getting back to how my tattoos factor in to all this. It was because of them that I figured out I had powers in the first place, and each one that I have grants me a different power. Like the flames on the backs of my hands? Well, you saw that one. I can light myself on fire and burn up to a certain temperature for extended periods of time, shoot fireballs, and control and manipulate flames, even ones that I didn’t create. It’s kind of my go to when it comes to combat.”

“But that’s not all she can do,” May interjected, her eyes wide. “See the vines on her arms? Those let her control plants! She makes them grow, and sometimes she uses them to trap people. And this one on her right shoulder, the lightbulb? It lets her control electricity and technology. You should see some of the stuff she does with that one! Oh, oh, and the storm cloud on her other shoulder? She can change the weather with that one! I’ve seen her use it to conjure a storm over someone’s head once and strike them with lightning!”

“May…” June tried weakly to stop her sister, really not wanting to go into detail about her powers like this. But May was on a roll.

“And the thingy on her chest –”

“The caduceus.”

“Yeah, that. She uses it to heal herself when she gets hurt…which is a lot. And the music notes on her neck, they’re so she can manipulate _sound._ Cool, right? And she already mentioned her wings, but you should _see_ them. They’re huge! And _really_ soft and pretty. And the words on her back in that other language?”

“Gaelic, sweetie.”

“Yeah, that one. Well, there are six words, and they translate in English to ‘strength’, ‘beauty’, ‘wisdom’, ‘courage’, ‘compassion’, and ‘loyalty.’ The only one that seems to actually give her a power though is ‘strength’, ‘cause she’s got super strength.”

“May, I think that’s a little too much info for now…”

“But that’s not all of them! She’s got another one on her forehead, under her bangs, that gives her telepathy and telekinesis. Some of the stuff she can do with that one _still_ blows my mind! And…um…there’s one I’m forgetting, huh?”

June sighed. Since they knew all of her other supernatural tricks, she thought, they might as well tell them about the last one.

“Yeah, and if you stare at my arms hard enough, you’ll figure it out. It’s the ice crystals intertwined with the vines,” she added, not waiting for a guess.

“Oh yeah. I always think it looks like snow,” May giggled.

“Anyway, that one allows me to manipulate ice, form it out of thin air, and even turn myself into ice. May’s little summary of my powers doesn’t cover all of what I can do, but…truth be told, the ice ability is one of my favorites. Check it out.”

With that, June smiled and closed her eyes, focusing her energy in the ice and snow twirling up her arms. When they began to glow, she opened her eyes, her smiled widening as she watched the look of shock and fascination while she slowly transformed in front of them.

“Pretty _cool,_ right?” she winked, lacing her fingers together and resting her chin on them. Sans cracked a smile, but barely seemed to register her words.

“damn straight…” he murmured, reaching out to touch her, then hesitating.

“Go ahead. Touching me won’t hurt you as long as I’m not using something like fire or electricity.”

Sans hesitated again, but actually touched her arm this time, gasping and yanking his hand back as if he’d been scorched.

“holy shit, you’re actually ice!”

“Kind of the point,” June smirked, sighing before releasing the held energy that kept her in her icy form. “But I can only hold out on that one for so long. Every power has its limit, and for the ice, it’s how long I can stay an ice sculpture. After a while, I feel the frost creeping into my lungs. It’s a really freaky feeling, so I change back.”

Sans experimentally poked her arm again, but since she had returned to normal, he was just poking flesh, rather than solid ice.

“The really fun part about my powers…they don’t just apply to my tattoos. If I have something on my skin, like a pen drawing, or a word, or even a scratch that vaguely resembles something to me, I can use it to give myself new powers, or amplify what I already have. Like, watch this.”

Now June selected a blue pen from the art supplies she’d left on the table and drew a gust of wind on her palm. She then showed it to the boys, focused her energy, and transformed again, this time, into a being of pure air. They gasped, and this time, Papyrus tried to latch on to her arm. His hand went through her arm and slapped the table. When June laughed, her voice was soft and light, like a breeze whispering through the trees.

“Honestly, I’ve never taken an air form before. If I step outside my usual powers, I commonly pick water. I kind of like this, though.”

June smiled (though it was hard to tell), and then swept her hand in a circle over her art supplies. Once, twice…then she pulled her hand up, as if pulling on a string. There on the tabletop, a tiny tornado swirled to life, sucking up her pens and pencils easily. She laughed at the looks of astonishment on the boys’ faces as she opened her bag with one hand and directed the tiny vortex to spit out the supplies into the bag with the other. May just sat there, giggling excitedly, openly admiring her older sister.

Then teen then became substantial again long enough to put her sketch pad away and pull her bag back on, then with a wicked little grin, transformed right back into the air form and floated above the table, blasting right out the door. May laughed and leapt from the booth, following the older girl outside and running to keep up with her. The skeleton brothers, startled by the sudden change from the girls, were slower to follow, but race to catch up with them, they did.

June sped through the town faster than anyone could keep up, swirling this way and that, kicking up the snow as she swept by. May jumped up and down, laughing and cheering her sister on. Sans tried a few times to head her off with his teleportation, but she saw him and twisted her path to blow right by him, circle around him, and once, even go right through him – literally. She even knocked him over in the process, her laughter rattling around in his skull as she whistled by. She then circled back and slowed to a gentle hover next to Sans, who glared up at her in annoyance.

When June stopped flying around long enough to been clearly seen, Papyrus leapt on her, forgetting that as long as she was transformed as an air elemental, she couldn’t be touched. He fell through her and face-planted into the snow next to Sans. The girls laughed, which angered the boys even more.

“are you two done dicking around, or are you going to make fun of us some more?”

June sobered up right away, dropping out of her new form and back onto the ground, though May kept giggling. Papyrus seized the opportunity to grab June’s ankle so she couldn’t get away again.

“Sorry, sorry,” May said, walking over as June shook off Papyrus’ hand. “We were just having a bit of fun. We didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Well…”

“June.”

“Once. Only once did I do it on purpose.”

“June…”

June couldn’t help a little laugh that bubbled up. Still, she sighed and was serious again.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have been horsing around. Knocking you over was a little much. Sorry, Sans,” she added, holding out a hand for him to take. He hesitated, but didn’t take it as he got up and brushed himself off. She shrugged and dropped her hand.

“You know, that gave me an idea,” May said suddenly, looking very serious again. “What happens when you guys try to use your magic? I mean, since Error took it away and all.”

The boys seemed caught off guard by her question.

“uh, well, nothing happens. literally nothing. that’s part of why everyone’s so on edge. we can’t fight as long as we don’t have magic.”

May tilted her head curiously.

“Can you show me?”

June frowned, not liking the idea of her sister openly asking to be attacked. But Sans grinned, his gold tooth glinting wickedly.

“we can sure give it a shot.”

And, his eye glowing red in a rather dramatic fashion, both May’s and June’s Souls were drawn out of them, and he casually flicked his hand in their direction, as if to lazily launch an attack. But, true to his word, absolutely nothing happened. Papyrus, however, seemed more interested in the girls’ Souls.

“TALLER HUMAN. WHY IS YOUR SOUL TWO DIFFERENT COLORS?”

“Huh? That? Beats the hell out of me,” the older ravenette shrugged. “Been that way since the first time I saw it. Which, honestly…was only about a week ago.”

“somethin’ wrong, kid? why the hell are you looking at me so funny?”

The two taller peoples’ attention was drawn back to May and Sans, the former staring at the latter…but seeming to see right through him.

“May?”

The little girl continued to stare, tilting her head to the side.

“There’s…something…I dunno. Could you…try that again? The attack. Try again.”

Sans looked confused, but complied, trying his attack again. Again, nothing happened.

“Those… _things_ …all around you…were those there before?”

All three looked around, wondering what she was talking about.

“May, are you feeling okay?”

“I can’t see them anymore…attack me again.”

“kid, are you really sure that’s a good idea?”

“Just do it!”

The forcefulness with which the little girl said it surprised Sans, and he did, trying once more to attack. Still nothing.

“i don’t know what you’re expecting to happen, kid –”

“Freeze! Whatever attack you’re trying to do, keep doing it. But hold still.”

Sans froze, not budging and inch from her bizarre tone. May then walked right up to Sans as if she were walking in a dream, her little green heart bobbing in the air in front of her as she moved. Then she waved her hand at the air above him.

Sans blinked in confusion, shuddered, then gasped, his already glowing eye suddenly getting brighter. And his attack materialized in front of them: an edgier version of the skull blaster Error had, aimed right at May.

Time seemed to slow for a few seconds as June jumped into action. The tall teen turned into wind again, barreling towards her sister so fast, her Soul could barely keep up. May seemed to come to her senses and looked up, gasping and falling backwards in fear as she saw the attack. She started to scream as her sister materialized in front of her, standing between her and the blaster. June, seeing they had no time to get out of the way, turned and curled up in a protective ball around May, using her powers to try and make Sans miss them. She successfully knocked him back with her telekinesis, making the blaster miss their Souls…and hit them directly.

Sans and Papyrus both froze in shock. The snow around the girls had been blown into the air, both from Sans’ blaster and June’s swift arrival, so it was almost impossible to see the girls, but the skeleton brothers suddenly felt concern set in as no sound came from where the girls had been. Then, as the snow settled, June’s back became visible again.

“June?” May’s tiny, terrified voice whispered from within the teen’s huddled form.

“oh stars, oh shit, oh no…” Sans hissed in a panic, seeing the state June was in.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

The tattooed teen wasn’t doing well. Her skin looked as if she had just gotten badly burned, and she was twitching and trembling, her breath hitching every so often. Very, very slowly, she uncurled enough that she wasn’t holding May anymore, then quietly flopped over in the snow.

“ _June!_ ” the little girl shrieked, grabbing her sister – then yanking her hands away in shock and staring at the blood on her hands. Tears formed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks so fast, she didn’t even realize she was crying. The smaller ravenette turned her terrified gaze to Sans and Papyrus, latching on to Sans before he had a chance to get away from her.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

“Please, please help her!” May begged, her little voice cracking.

The skeleton brothers took one look at her face…and Sans nodded, using his magic to pick up the injured teen.

“we help them,” he said firmly to Papyrus, “then bring them both – _alive_ – to asgore.” Sans wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“…FINE,” Papyrus agreed, picking up May himself and rushing with Sans to get help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good golly miss Molly, guys! 15 kudos and 200 hits! I personally am ecstatic about this, and I can't believe we've already made it this far in so little time. I know it makes my day to see those numbers, and they only get better with each update. Thank you guys so much for joining us and getting us this far already!  
> Oh, also, I know this one was a longer chapter. Before this point, I was attempting to make the chapters ten pages or less (in MS Word). But then this one happened... After this one, the chapters vary a little more in length, but they stay on the longer side of things. Just a heads up, for those that like longer updates. Anyway, love you all, thank you again so much for joining us on this little ride, and I hope you continue to enjoy it. See you next week for more!  
> P.S. For those who want to listen to the song the girls sing in this chapter (Battle Scars by Paradise Fears), the best version is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFaBmcCz_HU). -S
> 
> **Credit to the creators:** Underfell AU has no traceable creator, so this section is for the part of the community that created it. Oh, but it _does_ have an [official Tumblr page](https://underfell.tumblr.com/). Anyway, props to those who've contributed to Underfell!


	13. Such Cute. Very Fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual, when Gaster's text appears, it's in a ROT2 cipher. Translations follow the text. Enjoy, guys! -S

June twitched and groaned as she started to wake up, her whole body screaming at her to stop moving. Her vision was still blurred as she slowly sat up, partially because she was just waking up, and partially from the pain of moving around when she clearly wasn’t ready to be up yet. She stopped to catch her breath, worn already from just sitting up. June turned her head when she heard footsteps hurriedly approaching, but still couldn’t make out her surroundings, so even though she could see a small figure in halt in the doorway, she had no idea who it was that came rushing to her side.

It wasn’t until his boney hand closed around her arm that she figured it out.

“and where the hell do you think you’re going?”

The tattooed teen barked a laugh between puffs of air, her voice strained and breathy.

“Sans. Should have guessed from the colors…”

“look, i don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but you need to be resting. you’re still pretty messed up from what happened.”

Now another set of footsteps approached, calmer then Sans’ had been, and lighter.

“Sans?” came May’s sleepy voice as her steps stopped in the doorway. Then she gasped.

“June!” the little girl breathed, darting over to her sister and gingerly taking the older girl’s hand. “Oh, June…I’m so glad you’re okay…”

“Okay is a relative term,” the teen responded with a smile that was more of a grimace. May just smiled back, squeezing June’s hand tightly.

“You’re okay enough to be awake. That’s all I need to know. We were…we were really scared for a little bit you weren’t going to pull through. And though you’re not totally better yet, you’re awake, and that’s amazing on its own.”

June frowned, not totally sure what the little ravenette was talking about.

“do you not remember? the kid was having me try to use my magic, and… something she did got it working again. only, she was right in the blast zone, and you jumped in the way to protect her. you…you took the brunt of the attack,” Sans added, looking really guilty. He shifted his eyes away from June’s questioning gaze and tugged on his jacket nervously, a light red blush on his cheekbones before he muttered, “which was really fuckin’ stupid of you, since the kid had a shield to begin with. no need for the fuckin’ heroics…”

June blinked as her vision slowly cleared, pieces of what happened coming back to her.

“That’s right. Error took away your magic, and we were going to try to help…but… we got really sidetracked? And…and it had something to do with my powers…”

“Yeah, you’re right,” May encouraged gently, “You were showing off, and it made me wonder what happened if they tried to use their magic. I talked Sans into showing me.”

“Yeah…and I thought it was a fucking terrible idea to put yourself right in harm’s way like that. But since nothing was happening, it seemed okay. But you were acting strange…”

“Yeah. Turns out, I was seeing something you guys couldn’t. And every time they used their magic, I could see it. Otherwise, it was invisible to me, too. Which was why I kept telling Sans to attack me. I was trying to make out what it was I was seeing. But something came over me, and…and I made whatever it was go away. And it gave Sans his magic back.”

“But it put you in danger.”

“Yeah, um…not really. See, apparently, each Soul has a different color, and each color can do different things. Mine is green, which means my Soul is always in front of me, no matter what direction I’m facing, and I have a shield protecting me from frontal attacks.”

“So even if Sans’ blaster had hit you…”

“Most likely, I’d have been fine. You freaked and got yourself hurt for nothing.”

June paused, processing the information.

“Well, shit. If I had known that…hell, I’d have probably done the same damn thing over again,” she laughed, wincing immediately afterwards.

“why? why jump in the way like that if it’s only gonna get you hurt?”

“Because she’s my sister. Up til now, it’s been my job to protect her from any and all dangers. It’s instinct. Besides, this little ball of sugar and fluff means the whole world to me,” she added, reaching out and ruffling May’s hair, “and I’d do anything to protect her. Even if it means risking my own life.”

“And she has,” May added softly, her icy eyes welling up a little. “Multiple times. And I wish she wouldn’t. Because I think it’s kind of selfish of her to risk her life for me when I can’t imagine living without her.”

“And I feel the same, which is why I do it in the first place.”

May made a little face, then nuzzled her cheek into June’s hand.

“Selfish butt.”

June smiled and chuckled, the love in her vibrant green eyes not faltering once.

“Inconsiderate brat.”

May smirked, giggling at the insult.

“You know you love me.”

“Yeah I do. But we need to get back on track. How long was I out?”

“a couple days. you took a pretty hard hit, and you’re still not at one hundred percent yet. so no moving around, got it?”

June frowned, about to protest, but May squeezed her hand again.

“And no using your powers to heal yourself. You need to let this one heal naturally, alright? So we mean it – no moving.”

June’s frown deepened, but she complied, laying back down on her stomach.

“Only for you, punk.”

May sighed in relief, smiling.

“I know, sis. Thanks.”

“WHY ARE YOU UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? SHOULD YOU NOT BOTH BE RESTING?”

Now Papyrus stomped into the room, stopping when he got to the doorway as well.

“AH, THE OTHER HUMAN IS FINALLY AWAKE! IT IS ABOUT TIME. PERHAPS NOW I CAN HAVE MY BEDROOM BACK. ARE YOU WELL ENOUGH TO MOVE, HUMAN?”

June paused, pointed looking at Sans and May.

“Not according to these two.”

Papyrus paused, looking at the two smaller people in the room as well before nodding to himself.

“GOOD ENOUGH!!”

June stiffened, a sudden feeling of dread washing over her as Papyrus stepped closer.

“Papyrus, whatever you’re going to do, please don’t –”

But too late. Papyrus scooped her up while she was still laying on her stomach, hooking one arm under hers, and the other under her hips. While he unceremoniously lifted the teen into the air, she glared at the opposing wall, then at the two snickering smaller people.

“I am _not_ a cat. Put me down.”

“I KNOW NOT WHAT A CAT IS, NOR HOW TO CARRY ONE. I AM JUST HOLDING YOU IN A MANNER THAT WILL NOT CAUSE MORE INJURY TO YOURSELF. SO PLEASE DON’T MOVE.”

June growled, annoyed, but there really wasn’t much she could do. May stepped closer now, outright giggling.

“You know, you kinda do look like a cat. Like, your ears would be all laid back…”

“Shut up.”

“And you’re tail would totally be swishing right now.”

“Shut up!”

May laughed, stepping instinctively out of range, though June didn’t swing at the younger like she normally would have. It would have hurt too much. Instead she sighed, resigning grumpily to being carried like a feline. Still, something bothered her.

“Hey May.”

“Yeah?”

“What have you been up to while I was out?”

May smiled widely, pride making her eyes dance.

“I got Sans and Papyrus to help me start giving everyone their magic back! I don’t really know how I’m doing it, but whatever it is, it’s working! And everyone’s really nice…when you figure out how to break down their walls,” May added with a beaming smile. June couldn’t help but smile a little back. May was naturally gifted at making friends, so it made a strange sort of sense that the little girl would have befriended all the monsters she helped, even in this universe. Which reminded the teen…

“Have you checked in with the boys?”

May looked confused for a second, but when it clicked what the teen meant, she smiled and blushed sheepishly.

“Um, sort of? I let them know I was okay, but I mostly called to ask about the Soul color thing. With everything in the past couple days, it kind of slipped my mind to mention anything else.”

“Then they’re probably confused as hell and worried sick. Though why they haven’t contacted us with an update on Error is a bit surprising…”

“Yeah, that’s true,” May said, sitting on the floor in front of the couch as Papyrus got June settled. “I wonder if he’s even moved, or if the machine lost contact with him somehow, and that’s why we haven’t seen or heard a change.”

“That’s a possibility. A really worrying one, but a very real possibility nonetheless. After all, the boys haven’t finished their world-viewing thing, so it’s not like it’s going to be perfect.”

The little girl nodded, then made a face as an adorable and squeaky little yawn escaped her. June caught Sans and Papyrus both blushing a little when May yawned. Now she looked sleepy, but quickly scrubbed the tired look off her face and concentrated on her sister. June chuckled dryly.

“If you’re tired, don’t let me keep you up. I’m sure you guys have really logged some hours helping everyone, so by all means, head back to bed. I’ll still be here in the morning.”

“But –” May frowned.

“No buts. You, at the very least, are still a growing kid. And you need all the rest you can get. Now go, and sleep tight. And I promise I won’t use my powers to try and heal.”

May hesitated, pouting a bit, but another yawn slipped out, and as her head sagged, she finally sighed, “Okay,” and got up from the floor.

“Goodnight, June. I hope you can get some sleep.”

“Thanks, munchkin. Goodnight.”

May then trudged towards the stairs, pulling gently on Sans’ sleeve to drag him along. He went rather willingly, though it still looked cute that the sleepy little girl was pulling him along, as if he were a living teddy bear.

“G’night, Sans.”

“get some rest,” he retorted sharply. She had to laugh.

Then it was just Papyrus standing next to her. She waited for him to move away and so he could reclaim his bedroom, but as the silence stretched on, he continued to just stand there. She had to push him a little to get him to say anything to her.

“I WAS SIMPLY…OBSERVING TO SEE IF THERE WAS ANYTHING ELSE YOU REQUIRE BEFORE BED.”

“Uh, nah, Paps. I’m good. Thanks, though.”

“VERY WELL, THEN! REST UP, HUMAN!”

And he turned on his heel and marched back up the stairs.

“Goodnight, Papyrus.”

The tall skeleton hesitated in the doorway, then turned and closed his door without saying anything back. June just shrugged it off. These guys weren’t exactly the touchy-feely friendly types, and that suited her just fine.

It took another couple of days, but June was able to convince May to let her heal herself with her powers, which the boys were very interested in watching. After May agreed, she got a towel from the boys and stood behind June, Sans and Papyrus helping her sit up.

“Before we get to that part…May, help me out of these.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I don’t want fibers getting stuck in my skin or something.”

“Oh. That makes sense. Do you…want to ask them…?”

“No,” the teen sighed, “I don’t care if they watch, remember?”

“Well, yeah, but…um…”

“And I’m not as modest as most people. I don’t mind if they see. If it bothers them, they can look away.”

“the hell are you talking about?”

May blushed, but put down the towel, her eyes flickering to the boys every so often. Then she sighed and focused on helping June out of the half-jacket and tank top she had on. When the boys realized, they both blushed a bright red, but didn’t look away.

“Bra too.”

“June!”

“What? It’s not like I’ll be indecent. I was planning on holding the clothes in front of me.”

“Oh. That’s…not that much better, ya know.”

June rolled her eyes, ignoring the stares of the two skeletons.

“Look, I won’t even take it all the way off. Just unhook it in the back and push the straps off my shoulders, okay?”

May frowned, but did as she was told, handing June the other clothes to hold first. Then it occurred to her to push June’s long hair out of the way, too.

“Oh, thanks. Didn’t think about that.”

“What would you do without me?” May sighed, smiling. June didn’t answer, but gave a pained smirk nonetheless.

“Alright. You ready?” May asked, picking up the towel again, nervousness flitting across her features.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Remember to hold it tight, okay?”

May murmured that she understood her instructions before looping the towel around and helping get it in June’s mouth. After confirming she was good, June took a second to center herself, taking one last deep breath before concentrating her powers into healing, the caduceus on her chest glowing.

It was excruciating as always. It felt as if she were being burned all over again, and the instant the first wave of intense pain kicked in, May pulled the towel tight, like she’d been told. June grunted through the improvised gag, her whole body trembling as she fought the urge to writhe in agony. Little grunts or gasps were the only noises she made as she healed, her injured skin thickening to match the rest of her skin, her tattoos reforming on the new skin as if they’d always been there. When the pain subsided, she knew she was done and released her focused energy, sagging forward against the couch. May instantly came around to check on her sister, worry all over her face. June waved her off weakly, panting through the towel still stuffed in her mouth. The boys were struck speechless.

Though one wouldn’t think it, healing was undoubtedly June’s most intense power, as it was the one that required the most concentration and self-restraint. When June caught her breath again, she pulled the towel out of her mouth, but didn’t yet move from the couch.

“shit, that seemed pretty rough. you alright?”

“Yeah. It’s always like that. Which is why I have such a high pain tolerance. What?”

“nothin’, just…you seem to really like pain.”

“It’s not that I like it,” June sighed, clearly having fielded this kind of comment before, “it’s just that it’s necessary. We don’t have weeks for me to heal. Hell, I’m surprised we’ve managed to get four days to ourselves. Error’s not exactly gonna just wait around for us to end what he started, and he’s not going to ignore the good you guys have done by fixing the situation. We’re on a time crunch and we don’t know the deadline. Masochistic tendencies or no, this had to happen. And whether we like it or not, he’s coming. We need to be ready.”

June got up from the couch as she spoke, adjusting her clothes as she did. This seemed to remind the boys of her half-clothed state, in that they both turned red again, but barely averted their eyes. June couldn’t help but laugh.

“See, May? _Eye_ told you if it bothered them, they’d look away.”

May giggled at the pun, while Sans and Papyrus just got more flustered.

“I AM NOT BOTHERED BY YOUR LACK OF CLOTHING!! I AM SIMPLY RESPECTING YOUR PRIVACY!!”

“w-what he said!”

June just laughed, finally getting her bra adjusted and sliding her tank top back on.

“You can relax now. I’m decent,” she teased, rolling her eyes. The boys protested more, but seemed relieved that she was, indeed, covered. She sighed as she slid the half-jacket back on too, more at May’s insistence that it improved the outfit than she actually needed it.

“So what now?” May asked, tilting her head to the side, one dark pigtail falling over her shoulder. June tossed her own long locks back over her shoulder before replying.

“Well, have you checked that everyone has their magic back in this universe? Like, really and truly everyone?”

“Not yet. There are a _lot_ of monsters. But we’ve gotten almost everyone taken care of.”

June nodded, putting her hands on her hips.

“Good. Then I’ll check in with the boys, since I’d assume you still haven’t,” – an embarrassed and sheepish laugh from May here – “and you just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”

“Right. Guess we’d better head out, then. Come on, guys! We’ve got work to do!” May said, bouncing to the door. Again, she was pulling Sans by his jacket sleeve, which was just as cute as before – and this time, she had Papyrus by the hand, too, dragging the taller skeleton with her.

“Catch up with you later, sis!”

“Yep. Be careful out there. And you two look after her for me!” the tall teen called after them, the door swinging shut behind the three. She sighed, taking a minute to enjoy the silence before punching the controls for the communication function. The tiny screen flickered to life right away, displaying an image of the Lab…but no skeleton monsters in sight.

“Sans? Gaster?”

Something clattered off screen, then Sans came front and center, a little breathless.

“june! thank goodness! we were beginning to wonder what was going on over there. are you guys alright? did you find error? what’s happened?”

As Sans rambled, Gaster came up behind him, much more calmly than Sans’ arrival, but no less pleased to see her.

“I’m fine, and so is May. We’ve had some interesting developments. Yeah, let’s put it that way. Anyway, lots of good news and some bad news. Good news, we figured out what Error did in this universe and how to reverse it. Apparently, he managed to take away or suppress their magic somehow. And, by some weird twist, May can actually see whatever it is he’s using to do it and get rid of it. Still haven’t figured out the how he did it in the first place, or how she can see it and get rid of it when no one else can, but that’s beside the point. By now, May’s managed to restore magic to most of the Underground.”

“Cpf vjg dcf pgyu?” _(And the bad news?)_

“Bad news is that no, we haven’t encountered Error yet, but I get the feeling he’s gonna show up sooner rather than later. After all, he took away their magic to try and give this place a slow painful death. Instead, they’re thriving because we’ve undone whatever it was he did in the first place. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I have a gut feeling that he’s not gonna just let this slide as a lost cause and move on. Have you guys had any luck tracking him?”

“unfortunately, no. wherever it is he retreated to when he was done in that universe, we still can’t get a lock on it. we were beginning to wonder if maybe we’d lost him, but if you haven’t seen him either…”

“It means there’s a chance you still have him in your sights, he just hasn’t moved from his hidey-hole,” June snorted, contempt clear in her voice. “So what do you guys suggest we do? Obviously, we can’t follow him to wherever it is he’s gone, so…”

“Kv oca dg dguv vq lwuv yckv hqt jko vq ujqy wr cickp. Yjkng rgtjcru pqv vjg dguv rncp, yg fqp’v jcxg owej gnug cv vjg oqogpv. Cpf, cu aqw tkijvna rwv kv, aqwt cevkqpu ujqwnf dg gpqwij vq ftcy jko qwv uqqp. Yg’nn jcxg vq ugg.” _(It may be best to just wait for him to show up again. While perhaps not the best plan, we don't have much else at the moment. And, as you so rightly put it, your actions should be enough to draw him out soon. We'll have to see.)_

June nodded, not liking the plan, but since they really didn’t have other options, there was nothing she could suggest that would be better. Her thoughts returned to Gaster and Sans as they began speaking again, more to each other than to June.

“i wonder how it is may can see what error did to them to suppress their magic…and how she’s able to remove it.”

“Rgtjcru ujg jcu uqog uqtv eqppgevkqp vq jko vjcv yg jcxg agv vq ugg. K uvknn ykuj yg jcf iqvvgp vjg ejcpeg vq uvwfa Lwpg’u ocike hqt qwtugnxgu dghqtg vjga jcf vq ngcxg.” _(Perhaps she has some sort of connection to him that we have yet to see. I still wish we had gotten the chance to study June's magic for ourselves before they had to leave.)_

“maybe something with the devices can tell us…”

“Still here. I can totally hear you.”

This got their attention, causing both to look embarrassed.

“right, sorry. if error does end up moving and we see it, we’ll contact you both right away.”

June nodded as thanks, then signed off. Well, now with that out of the way…she wondered what she was going to do with May and the boys gone.

When the three got back hours later, they were surprised by a delicious smell wafting from the kitchen.

“Mm…oh my gosh, June! That smells amazing! What are you making?” May gasped, darting right to the kitchen. The boys stood in the living room at first, marveling at both the smell, and how tidy the house looked. Tough appearances aside, June certainly knew how to play den mother.

“Dinner,” she replied smoothly, chuckling at May’s face. “You’ll just have to wait and see. It’s almost ready, though. Go wash up.”

“Okay!” the little girl chirped, darting back out of the room and almost running into the boys. “You guys had better wash up before dinner, too. You don’t want to be all dirty when you eat!”

As the child peeled off for the bathroom, the boys peeked into the kitchen, just to see what June was up to. Despite the fact that she was cooking, the kitchen looked practically spotless, and everything was neatly put away that wasn’t in use. Even more surprising, there were a few things floating in the air in the middle of various tasks. In the center of the controlled chaos stood June, hips swaying slightly as she hummed a tune to herself, now equipped with Papyrus’ cooking apron and a new hair-tie to keep her long hair out of her way, the old one having been lost after she took the hit from Sans’ blaster.

“man, is there anywhere you’re not in your element? or, i dunno, anything you’re not good at?”

June turned, surprised to see the boys standing in the doorway, but smiled warmly anyway.

“Survival one-oh-one, boys. Learn how to adapt to your environment, and you will find exactly what you need always at your fingertips. And I’m only bad at things I’ve never tried,” she added with a flirtatious wink, never missing a beat in her cooking. She turned her back in time to miss Sans’ blush, or she would have laughed.

“May probably already suggested you wash up, too. I’d take her advice. Good food is best eaten with clean hands, after all.”

Sans and Papyrus both turned and did as they were told, cleaning up before going to sit at their table, passing May on the way. She came back a minute later with plates and silverware, setting the table with expert precision. She then darted back to the kitchen. Back and forth it was for a good minute or two, May carrying out various dishes to put on the table, then running back to the kitchen for more. When it was all said and done, June came out herself, carrying the largest dish and setting in on the table. May quickly claimed a chair for herself, settling in and waiting for June to unveil her creations. The teen first smiled, pulling her hair down and taking off the apron, returning the garment to its designated hook before coming back to the table.

She raised one hand in the air like she was pulling on a string, and all the coverings came flying off with a dramatic flourish. Steam rose from the food, and not only the smell, but the presentation made their mouths water.

“Fresh baked garlic bread rolls,” June started, listing off the various dishes with pride, “scalloped potatoes; steamed seasoned vegetables; shrimp scampi with wild rice; tortilla chips with home-made spinach-artichoke dip; some spring rolls, just because; and last but not least, porcupine meatballs – not made with actual porcupine, so calm down. Dig in, guys.”

And they did, everyone eating the feast she’d prepared with relish. May occasionally commented on how amazing something tasted, and the boys – surprising, since they were normally such masters of avoiding outright complimenting someone – backed her up right away. June was glowing with pride by the time they were halfway through the meal. Once they’d all had enough, June and May stood as one to put the food away and clean up. By the time the girls got finished putting the leftovers away and washing the dishes, they came out of the kitchen to find the boys asleep on the couch. May turned to her sister, a wicked little gleam in her eye.

“Wanna hear something the boys were telling me today?” she whispered so not to wake them up.

“What’s that?” June whispered back, leaning down some conspiratorially.

“When I asked them about why they were blushing so much, they got all flustered and said that they weren’t blushing, they can’t blush, it’s not a thing, blah, blah, blah.”

“Then they’ve blushed a lot in the past few days for guys that can’t blush.”

“Exactly! So, I was thinking…if you’ve got a red marker or something…”

June grinned, getting what her sister was after. She tiptoed over to her bag, still sitting next to the couch, and managed to extract all the red markers she had without waking the sleeping skeletons. She then tiptoed back, her own eyes sparkling with mischief now.

“Sis,” she replied, holding up the markers, “look who you’re talking to.”

May grinned excitedly, then tiptoed with June over to the couch, gesturing that June should be the one to play the prank on them. June nodded, knowing she had the steadier hands of the two, uncapped one of the washable markers and began to draw. There were a couple times the girls thought one of the skeletons was going to wake up and catch them, but they never did. Putting the markers back in June’s bag, the girls snuck off, each choosing one of the boys’ bedrooms to take for the night, snickering to themselves until they fell asleep.


	14. Oh Crap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual, Gaster's speech is in an ROT2 cipher, and the translations will follow the text. Enjoy guys, and see you next week! -S

The next morning was a blast, both girls waking up to yelling from the boys about the marker on their faces. At first, they blamed each other, but when they found the girls cackling about it, they started blaming June. And she took it, more than happy to take credit for the prank and help maintain her little sister’s innocent image. The boys took their time getting ready that morning, washing off as much of the marker as they could, the girls still poking fun at them occasionally.

“You missed some.”

“did not!”

“Did so. Right…here!” May chirped, pecking him on the cheekbone with a giggle, calling, “Got it!” out as she ducked out of arms reach and darted off. Sans and Papyrus both were quite done with the girls shenanigans at this point, and Sans let out a frustrated yell as May tore down the hall to her sister’s waiting arms.

“WHAT IS IT NOW?!”

“little fuckin’ shit!”

“Careful, Sans. Don’t do or say something you’ll regret,” June replied in a sing-song tone as he came storming down the hall towards them. Though her words were playful, there was a look of warning behind her smile, and he gulped, still angry and embarrassed, but able to take the hint. He turned and headed down the stairs, grumbling. May giggled, and June winked at her sister.

But the fun was cut short as a knock came from the door.

“I WILL ANSWER IT!”

And as Papyrus opened the door, he recoiled almost instantly. Then he found himself being flung against the wall as a figure stepped into the room. The girls gasped and flew to the railing, Sans gaping in shock.

“bro!”

June felt anger boiling within her the second she laid eyes on the figure holding Papyrus to the wall. May was glued to the railing, beginning to tremble.

“May,” June said in a voice that was far too calm and quiet for how much rage lay just beneath the surface. “Call the boys. Tell them I was right. He’s here.”

May nodded, pale as a ghost, her shaking hands fumbling with the controls of her device as June stared down at Error. Despite the eerie quiet that had settled over the room, Error didn’t seem to realize the girls were even there. He was too focused on Sans.

“hello, there. am i interrupting something? i sure hope so. that would make this all the more fun. see, i was just going to let your world die slowly and watch as you all scrambled for cover the next time a human came by. but you just had to go and figure out how to get your magic back. you just couldn’t let me have my fun. so now, i’m seeing to this personally. starting with you.”

“let my bro go, you crazy fuck,” Sans growled, his eye glowing red. “he’s got nothin’ to do with this.”

“he’s a part of this world, isn’t he? then i’m afraid he has to go, too. too bad.”

June wanted to jump down there and fight Error, but she knew without a game plan, this fight wouldn’t go any better than the last one, so she looked desperately to her sister, still fumbling with her controls. Making sure Error wouldn’t notice, she pulled May away from the railing and back into one of the bedrooms, closing the door carefully behind them before locking in her own controls at the same time as May finally got hers working. Snoring immediately came pouring out from the speakers of their devices.

“Sans!”

“Sans! Sans, wake up!”

Finally their calls got the attention of Gaster, who had fallen asleep somewhere off screen, and he woke up Sans.

“oh, shit! sorry, are you guys okay?”

“W-we’re okay for now, but –”

“He’s here. Error finally showed up. He’s hashing it out with this world’s version of Sans right now.”

There came a great crashing sound from outside the bedroom, causing both girls’ heads to whip in that direction.

“Literally!” May squeaked, frightened.

“This Sans is strong, but there’s no way he can beat Error on his own. Not even Ink could, and he had to be a hell of a lot stronger than me to hold his own for so long.”

“We have to do something! He’s gonna get killed!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen,” June reassured her sister, the fire of her courage bright in her fierce green eyes. She turned her attention back to the watches.

“See if you guys can get a lock on Error specifically now that he’s here, assuming we lost him in the first place. We’ll keep him busy. Hopefully, we can stop him here and all just go home after this.”

“I’ll keep my device on, so you guys know what’s going on. Just do what you can!” May added, dropping her wrist, but not ending the communication like June had.

The girls raced back to the hallway and saw that the doorway outside was wrecked, Papyrus still sitting stunned against the wall he’d been pinned to. June raced down the stairs, ordering May to check on him before dashing out the door herself. May nodded, kneeling next to the tall skeleton and gently put a hand on his arm.

“Papyrus? Are you okay? Did Error hurt you?”

“I…NO,” he replied, trying to shake off the stun, “BUT HE…THEY’RE FIGHTING. HE’S MUCH STRONGER THAN I ANTICIPATED FROM WHAT YOU AND THE TALL ONE TOLD ME…”

“I know. But June’s gonna make sure nothing happens to Sans. She’ll protect him as if she were protecting me, I promise. We’re both gonna make sure he’s okay. Just…just stay here, okay? I need to check on them.”

Papyrus nodded numbly, watching May get up and dart to the door, just catching Error flying by from a heavy hit he took. Sans, it seemed, was holding his own pretty well right now. June hadn’t yet had to make her entrance. That was good. But they both knew the fighting could turn at a moment’s notice, so they both kept a sharp watch, waiting for the moment they both dreaded would come. To his credit, Sans put up a good fight. He was a pretty heavy hitter, but since he was pouring his all into fighting another version of himself, he wore out pretty quickly, too. It wasn’t long until Error had the dark edgy Sans on the ropes.

Just as Error launched his blue strings, May and June both instinctively shot forward, May standing right in the way, letting her Soul shield block the attack. June’s breath hitched for a second, fearing the worst, but when the attack bounced right off the shield, she took another breath, remembering what May had explained before about her Soul color. As long as May could face Error’s attacks head on, she’d be fine. She knew how tricky Error’s attacks could be, though, and didn’t want to give him the chance to show May just how bad he could be.

Standing tall behind her sister, June glowered at Error.

“You’re fight’s with us, numbskull. We’re the ones who undid your little…magic fuckery. You want someone to blame?”

June then sparked her fire, the flames instantly climbing up to her shoulders, the heat sending her hair flying back dramatically.

“Come get some.”

“you two? well, if this isn’t a surprise. i was wondering where ink had sent you. did he honestly think sending you here would protect you?” Error shook his head, smiling evilly at them. “i suppose it can’t be helped. one last gasp from a dying skeleton.”

“Wrong!” May cried, her own eyes flashing with the same ferocity as her sister. “We came here following you, Error! We came to undo the things you’ve done! And we’re gonna stop you! For Ink! For everyone!”

Error paused taking in the little girl’s heroic speech, then laughed as if she’d said something hysterical.

“oh, and here i thought this couldn’t get better. little one, you have no idea what i can do. what i’ve already done. and if ink couldn’t stop me…you two don’t stand a ghost of a chance.”

His words only angered the girls more, but rather than rushing in blind, they had a plan. Much to Error’s surprise, May started to run around him, looking for a chance to swing at him with a stick she mysteriously produced. This distraction, while not particularly well thought out, would give June enough time to turn and fire up her healing, kneeling next to Sans.

“w-what are you doing?”

“Just hold still. This won’t hurt a bit.”

June had used her healing on others plenty of times before, but this time was different. She had never healed a monster before, but she would have thought that hardly mattered…until she felt a new surge of power course through her and she heard Sans gasp. When she opened her eyes, he was already fully healed – and, much to her own shock, her hands now burned bright with two different colors: orange on her left, and blue on her right, just like her Soul colors.

“Well that’s new.”

“y-your _eyes…_ ”

June blinked, unsure of what he was talking about, since she couldn’t see what her eyes were doing. But they hardly had time for her to check, as May let out a startled yelp from behind them. June turned as Sans climbed to his feet. Error had knocked May down, and had a blaster summoned behind her, where her shield couldn’t protect her.

June’s reaction was instantaneous, jumping to her feet and swinging her blue hand in one motion. Error was suddenly thrown to the side, the blaster missing May by a mile. The little girl wasted no time in scrambling to her feet and racing to her sister.

“Holy crap, June! I didn’t know your telekinesis was strong enough to make you glow!”

“It’s not.”

“that’s because what you did wasn’t telekinesis, like your normal powers. it was magic – the kind of magic we use. although how you did that with blue magic is beyond me…”

“The rules of this universe! They’re different, remember?” May cried, wide-eyed, before turning to her watch. “You guys still there?”

“if i had nails to chew on out of nerves for you guys, they’d be gone by now.”

“Quick, what can a blue Soul do? What can we do with blue magic?”

“C dnwg Uqwn eqpuvcpvna hggnu vjg ghhgevu qh itcxkva. Kv ecppqv hnqcv nkmg qvjgt Uqwnu cpf owuv jqr cpf lwor cdqwv vq cxqkf cvvcemu. Ykvj dnwg ocike, aqw eqpvtqn itcxkva, cpf ecp vwtp qvjgt Uqwnu dnwg…coqpi qvjgt vjkpiu.” _(A blue Soul constantly feels the effects of gravity. It cannot float like other Souls and must hop and jump about to avoid attacks. With blue magic, you control gravity, and can turn other Souls blue... among other things.)_

“So it’s like telekinesis…and that explains why mine always falls to the ground when we go into combat. Okay, I think I got it. And, uh…what about orange?”

“orange Souls are tricky. besides the color, there’s nothing special that affects them in combat, but the attacks of someone who has orange magic must be moved through, or they’ll cause damage.”

“Okay…so as long as Error is standing still when I launch an attack from my left, it’ll hit him. Got it. Good thing I’m ambidextrous,” June smirked, picking up Error and slamming him down into the ground to stun him with her blue magic.

“wait, june…are your eyes _glowing?_ ”

“What is everyone’s sudden interest in…wait, _glowing?_ They’ve never done _that_ before! Never mind, we don’t have time for this. Sans, I know this is asking a lot of you, but do you think you can give me a hand here?”

“what, like work together?”

“did you mean me?”

“Yes, I mean we work together. He’s already off guard from my magic, he won’t be expecting a gang attack. And no, I didn’t mean you, on the watch-thing. God this is gonna get confusing. We’ll have to sort it out later – can I count on you or not?”

Sans hesitated, but grinned wickedly, his eye glowing a vicious red.

“count me in.”

June nodded, glad to have him on their side, before turning back to Error, who was still recovering in the snow. He huffed angrily, then looked a little alarmed to see how it was June had gotten the upper hand.

“and here i was hoping to kill you before you could figure out how to use that. oh well. since i can safely assume you don’t yet know the whole truth about the matter, it’ll still be fun to kill you.” he hissed, sending a couple of blasters after them. May stood in front of Sans, facing one blaster head-on.

“Stay behind me!” she declared to him as the blaster fired, hitting her shield. He nodded, summoning blasters of his own.

June dodged the second skull-blaster easily – too easily, she realized, as Error sent another attack her way. She used her telekinesis in time with her blue magic to make the attack miss and fling Error into a tree.

The ensuing fight was intense, but just when things looked bleak on both sides, Error hightailed it out of there. May, June, and Sans were all worn from the battle, but they barely had time to breath before the girls’ devices squawked with cheers from the science-y Sans and Gaster.

“I wouldn’t celebrate just yet, boys,” June said grimly, lifting her wrist so she could be seen. “He gave up way too easily. He could have ended us, but he chose not to. No, this is far from over. I’d stay on my toes from now on if I was you.”

She added the last bit to the Sans standing next to her. May nodded to him, stepping closer to him and lifting her own device so both her and the dark Sans could be seen on the screen.

“the hell do you mean he gave up too easy? he just put us through hell!”

“Yeah, except I’ve seen him fight. _Really_ fight. What he did just now was nothing compared to that. When he really fights…even _I_ can’t hold a candle to him for long. We’ve got to follow him, see that he doesn’t try to fuck up some other universe…and fix it if he already has. But since we won’t be here for backup next time, I’d be really careful from now on if I was you. Maybe keep an eye on that machine in the basement – you know the one. I’d be willing to bet we can communicate to that one, too, so if you need anything, try using it to give us a call.”

“Oh, and…if we need some help in the future…”

“yeah, i’ll be there. if this really isn’t over, then i wanna stick it to that prick the next time i see him. call me up if you need an hand with him again.”

June smiled, glad that, despite everything, they had made a friend out of the dark and edgy Sans. She knew now that he could be counted on in a pinch, and that made a difference to her.

“Thanks, Sans. That means a lot.”

“Yeah. And be careful, alright?”

“yeah, yeah. just get goin’ ya fuckin’ saps.”

The girls smiled as he took a step back. They turned their attention back to their devices.

“Alright boys, where to next?”

“Jg tgvtgcvgf dtkghna vq wpkxgtug pwodgt ugxgp dghqtg yg nquv jko cickp. Yg ecp vgnn aqw oqtg yjgp aqw igv vjgtg.” _(He retreated briefly to universe number seven before we lost him again. We can tell you more when you get there.)_

The sisters nodded, setting to dialing it into the devices immediately.

“On three?”

Even though she was still panting a little from the huge fight she’d just taken on with a magical skeleton who was clearly more powerful than her sister, May still managed to sound excited. June couldn’t help but marvel at her little sister’s strength and resilience.

“On three,” the older ravenette agreed, a familiar strength and determination coming back into her voice. “One.”

“Two!”

“Three!” they cried together, pressing the buttons as one. The light lifted them up once again, quickly growing brighter until it was blinding. And just like that, they were gone.


	15. Blast Off!

June and May blinked away the after image of the light to find, for once, they weren’t falling. They actually landed safely on the ground, and when they looked around, they tried to gasp – but found they couldn’t. May coughed once before June slapped a hand over her mouth, signaling in their special sisterly communication ways to hold her breath. May nodded, watching June fish in her back pocket until she produced a permanent marker. She quickly drew on her hand the same wind markings as before, then latched on to May before activating it, both girls turning into air elementals. Unable to hold it any longer, the girls gasped for air, finding that like this, they could breathe again.

“Good thinking…June…” May panted, then giggled at the sound of her voice.

“Couldn’t have you…suffocating on me…now could I? Just…whatever you do…don’t let go of me.”

May nodded, holding tight to her sister as they hovered above the ground slightly, slowly moving along the clearly marked walkways, taking in the sight of their new surroundings. It was enough to take their breath away all over again.

“It’s…it’s so beautiful here! Why would Error – or anyone, for that matter – want to destroy something so pretty?”

“Look up,” June whispered, her voice barely able to be heard over the rushing water all around them.

“Hmm?”

“Look. Up.”

May did and gasped again, her own wonder only beaten by June’s.

“Oh…oh my…the stars…”

“Yeah. I think…I think we might be in space, May. There’s literally nowhere on earth you could see the stars this clearly. It’s…it’s kind of overwhelming…”

“Because you love the stars and planets and night time and all things space?” May grinned up at her sister, who looked like she was galaxies away right then.

“Yeah. Something like that.”

With June still focused on the sky, only May saw the figure watching them through the flowers. She gave a surprised gasp, which seemed to startle the figure as it had been caught. June glanced at her sister, wondering why she’d made the noise, and noticed the flowers off to the side moving like something pushed through them. The sisters looked at each other, one highly confused and suspicious of what just happened; the other just curious.

“Did you see that?!”

“Evidently not.”

“We should follow them and apologize!” May exclaimed, dragging the older ravenette by the hand towards the flowers before the older could protest. “I think we might have scared them!”

June would have argued, but since May was likely to try and wander off on her own anyway, regardless of what the taller girl would have wanted. So instead she sighed and let the younger girl lead them where she would, muttering, “Alright, sure. Whatever.”

The sisters started floating in the direction the figure went, May getting distracted by the blue glow of the water and June hardly looking where she was going due to just watching the sky. After a bit of walking/floating, June noticed something off in the distance: a large white mass with what looked to be trees. May must have seen it too, as she exclaimed, “That kind of looks like of Snowdin! I wonder how our Sans and Papyrus are…” She got quiet as the girls got closer and realized that what they thought wasn’t just Snowdin, but was actually an asteroid quite a ways away. June looked up again and noticed that there were others too, some looking like where they stood, others looking normal, or in some state of molten rock. It was as if the Underground they had come to know was exploded across – and then it really sank in.

“An asteroid belt…we’re _definitely_ in space.” she whispered, almost disbelievingly to herself.

But as incredible as that moment had been, a high pitched voice, more like a hiss than a voice, calls out to the girls, drawing their attention back to where they were going.

“Stay back! I-I don’t want to fight you!”

Too late. As the girls registered that the one talking to them is a spider-like monster lady in blue and gold clothing, their Souls appeared as they always did before a fight, and June instinctively coiled her body into a position that said she was ready to either attack or defend. May, to her credit, never once let go of her sister, swirling around in front of the older girl so her shield could protect them both.

“We can talk about this,” the little girl tried, but the spider woman launched an attack, June pulling her sister out of the way. Shield or no, it was still instinct for her to protect the smaller girl.

“I’m sorry!” the monster woman hissed, throwing what appeared to be pastry-shaped attacks at them. “I’m trying to fight it, but I can’t stop! If you still have control of yourselves, run!”

May got that stubborn, passionate look on her face, and June knew that they weren’t going anywhere.

“Talk to us! Tell us what’s wrong! We can help!”

The taller ravenette noticed that, true to her word, the spider girl was indeed trying to resist throwing more attacks at them, but it was as if she couldn’t control herself, despite the fact that she was obviously still able to think freely. Whatever was possessing her was letting her have enough control so she could see the harm she was inflicting on others. June only knew one person cruel enough to do such a thing.

“This has Error written all over it, May. Whatever he’s done, she really can’t stop herself. We might not have a choice but to fight back or run.”

“If Error really did do this, then we can help! I’m not leaving until we can fix this.”

The girls almost separated when the spider monster threw a croissant at them and it came at them from behind like a boomerang.

“Please! Just run away!” she begged them, throwing another pastry.

“No! We can fix this! There has to be a way!”

June then got an idea, gritting her teeth and flying right up to the spider monster, dragging her sister closer.

“Can you see it? The things you saw before, can you see them?”

May paused, only hesitating at first because she didn’t understand what her sister was up to. When she got it, she focused tightly, staring at the monster girl every which way she could. But as the girls dodged attack after attack, May still saw nothing, shaking her head and dragging the older girl away.

“I can’t see them. I’m not feeling anything!”

The spider girl seemed to focus on this bit of their conversation, looking at May sharply as she gasped.

“Wait! You-you can see them? The strings?”

“The…what?”

It clicked for June then, and what the science-y Sans and Gaster had been talking about suddenly made sense.

“Error’s string attacks! Those aren’t just for hurting people, May – he can tie them up, too, and god knows what else. It explains how he suppressed the magic of an entire universe!”

“But then, how come no one else could see them? And why –”

“Your Soul is green, but there’s something inside you, something else, too…like the older one. Both of you have special Souls, but you, little one, have yet to awaken your other side! If you have the power I think you do, I know what you must do, but you have to listen very carefully. You have to hurt me to make me stop attacking.”

“What?!” May gasped, narrowly dodging another doughnut, “No! I can’t do that! I won’t!”

“You have to! But there is a way you can do it without putting me in danger, dearie! If you can do what I think you can, then do as I tell you!”

“But –”

“ _May, just do it!_ ”

“I…okay, fine! What do I have to do?”

The spider girl seemed relieved May was finally going to cooperate, and tried as calmly as she could to teach the little girl.

“All of that stubbornness inside you? All that strength and passion and fire you have? Focus it – all of it. Do you feel it? Can you feel the power growing there?”

“I…I feel…something…!” May grunted, her eyes screwed shut, concentration on her face. June could feel May’s grip on her hand tightening until she could barely stand it…but more than that, connected through her own powers, June could feel something beginning to stir in May. Something quiet, at first, but the harder she concentrated, the more it grew, until the power itself was making her whole being crackle with energy, that quiet something turning into a roar.

“Good! Now concentrate that power at me – and let it out!”

May, unable to hold it back anymore anyway, cried out as her Soul suddenly shone brightly, and when she threw her free hand in the spider monster’s direction, a wave of purple energy – shaped as a swarm of butterflies – shot out, hitting the monster dead-on.

The spider woman grunted, the hit not doing much in the way of real damage, but her attacks did come slower now, as she was all tangled up in the swarm of butterflies. Before long, she barely had the energy to throw anything at the girls, and the fighting just ground to a halt. That’s when June noticed.

“May, your Soul!”

“Huh?” the little girl asked, looking now at the little thing floating in front of her chest with a gasp. “Holy crap! It’s…there are _two_ colors now! W-where’d the purple come from?!”

The monster woman chuckled weakly from where she stood, still barely hanging on.

“I knew you had it in you, dearie.”

May looked up at the monster girl again, but this time, that funny look from before crossed her face – the one June had seen in the dark and edgy universe, just before she’d somehow freed that Sans from Error’s strings.

“You see them again.”

“Yeah, and she’s right. They _are_ strings. Or…kind of? I’m not sure how to describe it…but it doesn’t matter. I can get rid of them.”

Now May closed her eyes, and that same purple energy pulsed in her Souls again as she swept close to the spider monster, and like before, waved at the air above the woman. The monster woman hissed a relieved sigh as she shuddered, clearly shaking off the feeling of the strings.

“Thank you, dearie, for sparing me. Now I see why your Soul shares its space with green. My name is Muffet, little one,” she added as she climbed to her feet with a smile, “and, if you’d like…I can teach you how to use that new gift of yours! Ahuhuhu~”

May smiled one of her beautiful, radiant smiles, and held out a hand to Muffet.

“I’m May. And…I really appreciate the help!”

Muffet extended one of her hands as well, trying to shake May’s hand – but her hand went right through May’s. Both giggled as they realize their mistake.

“Right. I forgot that you can’t touch the air.”

“What a peculiar feeling! But it occurs to me…I wasn’t aware air elementals existed out here. And for all the monsters I know, I’ve never seen you two dearies before.”

“Oh, um…”

“We’re new,” June instantly stepped in to cover for her sister. “June, by the way. Yeah, we just got sent up here. Our late arrival must’ve helped us dodge a bullet, eh, sis?”

May giggled, nodding. Leave it June’s quick thinking again…

Muffet nodded slowly, clearly mulling over their answer.

“I suppose that makes sense. It would be difficult to catch a wind spirit, after all, even for humans. But for them to take so long…ah, never mind that, dearies. You’re here now. And I’d say that you’re either very lucky, or very unlucky, depending on how you look at it.”

“What do you mean, Muffet?”

“Well, little one, the strangest thing has happened to us recently. For no reason at all, people have begun to attack each other on sight – and we can’t control it! We can only stop when we’ve caused enough damage to one another. Most monsters aren’t as lucky as you or I, though. They can’t control their damage like we can, and the fact that so few of us can puts many in serious danger. For the time being, everyone has spread out across the different asteroids to avoid coming into contact with anyone else. But we can only avoid each other for so long, you know...but you two haven’t been affected by the strings like everyone else, so that’s lucky! The unlucky part is everything else.”

“It’s okay, Muffet,” May assured the spider girl, “We’re a lot stronger than we look! And, now that there are the two of us in control of ourselves that can see the strings, I’d say things are already looking better.”

Muffet smiled widely, pleased by the child’s enthusiasm.

“I suppose you’re right, little one! Now that you’re here, and can dispel the strings for us, we’re already much better off! Ahuhuhu~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Credit to the Creators:** Thanks to the commenter XxInspiredByAnimexX, we found the original creator of Outertale, [2mi127](http://outertale.tumblr.com/)! Thanks for that, darling!


	16. The Most Serious of Talks

May and June floated along behind Muffet as she explained how her – and subsequently May’s – magic worked.

“You see, dearie,” she began, leading them along a path that no one else took with practiced ease, “everyone has magic, to some degree. But what separates special attacks from normal ones is the color, which is dictated by the color of your Soul.”

“That explains why all the other attacks I’ve seen have been white, or just didn’t have a color to them.”

“Exactly. So, while your sister here has blue and orange magic at her disposal, you and I have purple. And even though you and I both have purple magic, yours is different than mine because you also have two Soul colors. Hmm. Actually, that’s quite curious. Why do you both have two colors to your Souls?”

“Didn’t you know? Air elementals have more colors than just one. I mean, really. Besides the fact that we can make ourselves as invisible as the wind itself, how else would we have avoided the humans for so long?” June lied easily. May stared at her sister. It was…scary, sometimes, how good she was at playing off things like that, where May hated to even tell a white lie.

“Actually, I didn’t know that. You’re the first air elementals here, and I’ve never heard mention of anyone who’s ever seen one before, so…ah, never mind, dearies. Clearly, I’m prying. Anyway, back to my point. Though our magic may take different forms, there is much I can teach you, like what it was you did when you attacked me.”

“I’m sorry about that,” May added quietly, wincing.

“Think nothing of it, little one. You did what had to be done. And I’m fine, now. Ahuhu~ Anyway, what you did was cause poison damage. I can do it, but it’s not something I use often, if at all. What’s even more interesting is the form your magic took. Mine resembles either my spiders or my pastries. Yours looked like something else, something with wings.”

“They’re called butterflies,” May supplied happily, “They’re a kind of bug that flies around and looks pretty. Actually, I don’t know that much about them, but I do remember hearing that some of them can scatter this dust or the scales of their wings or whatever, and that it’s poisonous.”

“How…fitting,” Muffet smiled, clapping a set of hands delightedly. “Either way, as you noticed, it doesn’t do much right away, but give it time, and it reduces your enemies’ health to almost nothing. Once it gets to that point, however, it’s up to you to decide what to do with them, because you can’t kill them that way. The other thing you can do with our type of magic is trap others. I personally like ensnaring others in my web, but that’s just me, dearie. Trapping people doesn’t hurt them, but if you can confine them to a small space, it makes fighting them that much easier! Ahuhuhu~”

“Wow! There’s a lot we can do!”

“That’s right! And, I had a thought. I believe it’s our purple magic that allows us to see what everyone else cannot.”

“The strings,” June concluded, seeing what Muffet was getting at now.

“Precisely. We can see the trap we’re in only because we can trap others ourselves. However, no one has been able to cut the strings, so to speak, not even me. Until you came along, that is. I can teach you more, but in return, I have to ask you one thing.”

“Whatever it is, I’ll be happy to help.”

The spider girl smiled something almost sinister, and June held May’s hand a little tighter out of instinct.

“We need your assistance. Since we three are the only ones free from control, and no one else can set things right…I have to ask you to help free us. I know it’s a monumental task for such a little one like yourself, but I have faith you can do it.”

May nodded resolutely, radiating the kind of confidence June only saw when it came from her passion for helping others.

“You didn’t even need to ask, Muffet. I was going to insist on helping anyway!”

“Trust me, she’s not lying. Even if I tried, I probably couldn’t have convinced her not to help. She’d never leave you twisting in the wind, knowing there was something she could do about it. She’s just like that.”

May giggled at June’s joke, whether she meant it or not. June cracked a smile and chuckled herself. Muffet smiled patiently.

“Thank you, both of you, for being such dears. And I had hoped as much. As I said before, it makes sense why that gorgeous purple would share with green. It compliments you so well, little one. Ahuhu~”

“Aww, thanks, Muffet!” the little girl giggled in reply.

“Hey, Muffet? I hate to interrupt a sweet moment, but do you mind if I ask a question?”

“What’s that, dearie?”

“Something you said has been bothering me. It’s about everyone spreading out across the asteroids.”

“What about it?”

“Well…just how many are we talking, here? And where…where is everyone? I know you said you’ve been trying to avoid each other, but we haven’t seen another sign of life since we got here.”

Muffet frowned and hissed a soft sigh.

“Well, there’s a total of six major asteroids that people live on. This one is called Waterfall, and it’s the biggest. Normally I live over on the Hotland asteroid, but…it was too crowded over there. Many people thought the same thing, so we scattered. Since this one has the most space, most of us moved here, to give those that couldn’t leave the other asteroids more room. And the path I’ve been leading you is a bit of a habit for me. It’s instinct to follow the path I established where I wouldn’t run in to anyone. Sorry, dearies,” she added, coming to a stop. She looked around for something, then seemed to come to decision.

“If we go this way, we might just run into someone for you to help, little one. Then I can show you more of what purple magic is capable of.”

May glided excitedly after Muffet, dragging her sister with her. And, as it turned out, the spider monster was right: they did run into someone, and Muffet got the chance to show May what she’d been talking about. With Muffet’s help, they freed the monster they ran into and moved on their way. As promised, the more they wandered, the more Muffet taught May about her new magical power, helping May practice until she really got the hang of it. By the time they had a good chunk of Waterfall freed from Error’s strings, May was exhausted, barely keeping up with her sister.

“Hey, wait. Muffet. I know you’re eager to get everyone freed, but it’s not gonna happen in a day. May can’t take much more. She’s worn out. Please, she needs to rest.”

“Oh, of course, dearie. How thoughtless of me! My apologies, little one, I should have considered the toll this must be taking on you. Here, let me reach out to a friend. I haven’t heard of him being affected by the strings, so perhaps he has room for you…”

Muffet now produced a cell phone and dialed, holding it to her ear with one hand and crossing her fingers on most of the others. She perked up suddenly and began to speak, uncrossing her fingers.

“Hello, dearie. Yes, it’s me. Look, I have a couple of young monsters here with me that need a place to rest where they won’t be bothered, and the last time I checked on you, you were still unaffected, so…if you could do me a favor, dearie, I would very much appreciate it. Oh, you’re not? That’s fabulous news, dearie! Ahuhuhu~ No, no. They’ve got it covered, dearie. No need to send Sans to get them. Though…perhaps have him stand outside to flag them down when they get there. Thank you, dearie. I owe you a personal favor now, and I won’t forget it. I mean it, Grillby. The next time you need something, I’m there dearie. Ahuhuhu~ I’ll send them your way shortly. Really, thank you again.”

Muffet finally hung up, then turned to the girls.

“My dear friend Grillby is expecting you. He owns a bar on the Snowdin Town asteroid called Grillby’s. He’s been unaffected by the strings somehow, and he’s protecting those that are in his bar like I protect my spiders. You’ll be safe there. Oh, I should mention, the Snowdin Town asteroid –”

“It’s that one, right?” June asked, pointing to the ball of ice with trees in the distance. Muffet looked where the teen’s wispy hand had pointed, then looked back at her with surprise.

“Why, yes, that’s it. Good guess, dearie. Can you get there alright?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine. I’ll make sure nothing happens to her on the way. She’s my sister, after all. I’m always looking out for her.”

“Of course, dearie. Be careful, the both of you. And please, bring the little one back to see me! Ahuhuhu~”

“See ya, Muffet. Will do. You be careful, too!” June called back, pulling a half asleep May along behind her as she took off from the surface of the Waterfall asteroid. It took some doing to leave the gravity of Waterfall (until June remembered her blue magic), but when they finally got to the Snowdin asteroid, June could remember the way to Grillby’s. And, true to what Muffet had said, standing outside Grillby’s was yet another version of Sans, this one in blue and yellow clothes covered in stars. June approached slowly.

“Sans?” she tried, wondering if this Sans would fail to recognize them like the others had so far. He turned his head and spotted them, surprise evident on his face.

“you’re grillbz’s guests? the ones muffet sent over?”

“Yep, that’s us,” she sighed, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. There had been no spark of recognition. This Sans had no idea who they were, either.

“then you two should get in here, quick. no telling when someone who is affected will walk by.”

June nodded, waiting for him to open the door to sweep past him – through him, really, which made him stagger a bit in their wake – and into the bar. Grillby, though recognized them both right away.

“May? June? Is that you two? Why didn’t Muffet say she was sending you? And why does she think you’re monsters? Never mind, it doesn’t matter,” he added, shaking his head, his voice crackling and popping like a bonfire when he spoke. “Look, any friend of the boys – and Muffet’s, because she is no easy little lady to befriend – is a friend of mine. You need a place to crash, you’re more than welcome to stay here. Let me get you something to eat. On the house, this time, ladies.”

As Grillby turned away to go prepare food for them, Sans looked up at the girls, perplexed.

“mind if i ask how it is you know grillbz? and why he seems to think that i or my brother should know you?”

“I…wow. That’s fuckin’ weird. Okay. Um. Look, I’d love to answer your questions, Sans, but right now, my sister needs to rest. For now, just pretend like you do know us. It’ll make things easier. Also, this is gonna sound really crazy, but, um…is there any chance that someone has a spacesuit lying around? Because we both kind of need one. Her more than me.”

Sans did look at her like she was crazy for asking, but pulled out a phone and pressed a few buttons. Then, June watched as a spacesuit designed for kids appeared out of thin air, projected by the phone. She gaped as he held it out to her.

“i was told it was the only one to survive the initial landing in the asteroid belt.”

June paused, then blinked and remembered why she needed it in the first place, reeling in her spinning mind.

“Uh, thanks. Could you just…hold it open for a sec?”

Sans looked even more confused than before, but did as he was asked. June then swirled into the open suit, pulling her sister with her, knowing that while they were made of wind, they could both fit. It took a bit of struggle with the sleepy child, but June got her sister situated in the suit as best she could without breaking physical contact with May. Once she had the smaller girl ready, she held one hand to May’s chest, keeping that the only physical contact they had.

“Okay, Sans. When I take my hand off her, she’s gonna return to normal, which means she’s not gonna be able to breathe because there’s no oxygen out here for her. That means she’s gonna need this suit to be zipped up fast, so she doesn’t suffocate, okay?”

“then why don’t you do it?” There’s stress in his voice. June winced slightly, but looked him dead in the face as she spoke.

“Because when I look like this, I can’t touch anything physical. I go right through it. Case in point, we both went through you when we walked in, bonehead. So I need your help on this. Now, on my signal, I’m gonna take my hand away. You need to zip her up as fast as you can after that, alright?”

Sans hesitated, but nodded, readying himself to work fast.

“One…two…three!”

On three, June pulled her hand away from May. Instantly, the little girl reverted back to her normal appearance, and her breath caught. Sans stepped in around June and zipped up the suit, making it as airtight as possible as fast as he could. As he worked, May coughed and spluttered, trying to get air, waking up in a hurry. By the time the system in the suit kicked in, he finished getting her strapped in and she coughed on the air in the suit. She could breathe, however, and collapsed in a surprised heap on the floor. Both Sans and June sighed in relief, and June hovered low in front of her sister.

“You okay in there, little sis?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t expecting that. Warn a girl next time! Sheesh!”

June smiled and turned to Sans just as Grillby returned.

“Thanks, Sans. I definitely owe you.”

“I’m guessing you mean for the suit. I figured you looked like that because you needed air. Though where Sans had that stashed away, I’ll never know, I’m sure,” the fire elemental laughed, gesturing them to a booth. Then it seemed to occur to him.

“June, can you even pick this up looking like that?”

She shook her head, and though it’s difficult for anyone else to tell, Grillby seemed to just know.

“Sorry, Grillby. But thank you anyway. It was sweet of you to go to all the trouble, and we both appreciate you letting us hole up here for now.”

“Think nothing of it,” he popped, and June could see a smile in his flames. “I’ll keep yours warm for you, should you find a way to be able to eat.”

June smiled back, and watched him whisk her food away to be saved for when she can actually eat. With that out of the way, she turned back to Sans, who was looking at both girls inquisitively. May took one look at Sans and turned to her sister.

“So…?”

The teen shook her head, and May sighed, looking rather crestfallen.

“Oh. I kinda hoped, since Grillby…oh well. Actually, that’s kinda – kinda weird,” May continued, a yawn having interrupted her sentence. “How is it that in every universe so far, every Sans we meet has no idea who we are? I mean, we’ve made friends with a few now. You think he’d remember us. Or, at least, that no one would remember us, instead of it only being the Sanses and Papyruses that don’t…”

The little girl yawned again, and June swirled away from the booth, urging her sister to her feet.

“Come on, sleepy head. You’ve had a big day of helping people and saving lives. You need your rest.”

“But –”

“You can be even more heroic when you get up tomorrow. I swear. Just please, for my sake, sleep?”

May sighed, which turned into another yawn.

“Okay…”

Grillby came back just in time, smiling at the little girl before guiding her to the back of the bar, taking the child’s food as well to save for later. June hesitated, clearly considering following him to make sure May got settled, but gritted her teeth at herself, forcing herself to slide back into the booth across from Sans.

“not gonna follow him, make sure he doesn’t hurt her or something?”

The question was obviously meant to bother her, but she refused to let him ruffle her feathers.

“No. I’ve met him before – well, other versions of him, anyway – and he hasn’t hurt her so far. I…I have my trust issues, I know…in case that wasn’t obvious…but I’m trying to learn to be more open to others. She trusts him. He’s a good guy, and he’s gentle with her. That’s good enough for me.”

Sans nodded slowly, accepting her words, then gave her a hard look.

“so then, miss air elemental…care to explain how it works that grillbz knows you, even though i can guarantee you’ve never set foot in here before?”

June sighed and ran a hand through her wild, windy hair, explaining everything. By the time she finished, Sans looked like he was having a hard time processing everything she said.

“You okay?” she asked after a minute of silence from the small skeleton.

“that’s just…a lot to swallow. but i know you’re telling the truth, mostly because you know things you shouldn’t – can’t otherwise know.”

June paused over this, tilting her head to the side.

“Things I shouldn’t know…like the machine, right? But you said things, like multiple. So what else aren’t we supposed to know about?”

Sans looked surprised, being caught on something as simple as his wording of his sentence. He quickly replaced it with a practiced lazy smile.

“you guys really are sharp. okay, i’ll level with you, then. there are a few things that you shouldn’t know about but you do. the other universes, for instance. most of the other universes don’t realize the others exist. science me explained that, right?”

“Yeah. He used this bubble analogy…it was kind of dorky. But it made sense. The bubbles exist, but aren’t aware of each other. Each bubble represents one of the universes. Me, May, and Error are the weird part of the analogy, because we can move through the bubbles, the worlds, and that’s not supposed to be possible. Wait, why’d you call him the science you?”

“he’s a scientist, right?”

“Yeah? Oh. Guess I just hadn’t thought of that. They don’t have names for the universes, just numbers, so we just kinda rolled with it. Although, I can see what you’re getting at. We already had a problem of differentiating between you guys when we’re talking to more than one of you.”

“confusing, isn’t it?”

“No shit. Calling them by their universe would be helpful to specify which one we’re talking to. I’ll bring that up to May when she wakes up. Good call. What gave you the idea?”

“truth be told, ours is one universe where we’re aware of the others. those of us that are aware got in touch with each other and helped decide on names for them, so we could tell the difference. not all the names carry to the other universes, though. for example, we all agreed to call the first one you encountered science or scientist. but the dark edgy one you ran across? it differs from universe to universe what it’s called. the most popular is fell.”

“Is that what you call it?”

Sans paused, again caught off guard, but that lazy smile never faltered.

“no. but you might as well call it that. if you run into another universe that’s aware, they’ll know what you’re talking about once you tell your story, whether or not you call it fell.”

June nodded slowly, taking it in.

“And what do you call this universe?”

“most of ‘em refer to us as just outer.”

“I get it,” June grinned, trying not to laugh midsentence. “Because outer space.”

“yep. from the sound of it though, you and your sister…i have a hunch you two are from the original timeline. and ‘your sans’, heh, he’s among the ones aware. we all either call him classic, original, or alpha. he doesn’t like it, but he puts up with it.”

“For obvious reasons. But what do you make of Ink and Error? They obviously know – I mean, Error basically rips holes in each reality to cross through. And Ink, he…he had to have known. You guys are what he was fighting for, after all. But you didn’t seem to recognize their names when I mentioned them.”

“that’s because we don’t know ‘em. i have no doubt what you’re saying about ink and error is true, especially after what’s been going on, but…i can’t say that any of us would know who they are. the universe you were talking about, that white space you and your sister fell into before you ran into science…we call it the anti-void. couldn’t figure out another name for it, and better yet, we had no idea that anyone lived there. but now that one of us knows, and you’ve introduced edgy into the mix of those that do, we can put it out that you two are trying to look out for us. those of us that are aware will welcome you once we get the word out.”

“…edgy?” June asked, arching an eyebrow, mentally guessing who he meant.

“fell.”

“Figured. Just confirming. And thanks. I know it’s probably a pain in the ass to have to do this, especially as a favor to a pair of humans you don’t really know, but…it’ll really help things along if we can keep introductions to a minimum and just get to work when we find whatever trail of breadcrumbs Error’s left for us.”

Outer Sans nodded, falling silent again. Now knowing a few different Sanses, though, gave June some insight into the small skeleton, and he was getting easier and easier for her to read.

“What else is on your mind?”

“just curious about something. how long can you hold your breath?”

June paused, about to seriously answer, but then realized why he asked. She smiled knowingly.

“You want to know what I really look like.”

“either you humans are cleverer than i thought, or i’m just way too obvious.”

“While I’d like to say that all humans are as intelligent as I am,” June snorted sarcastically, “the truth is that most aren’t. That said, I’m not so conceded as to think I’m the smartest human there is. But all talk of intelligence aside…no, you’re not that obvious. Getting to know you and the other Sanses…I’m pretty sure it’s just that I’m learning how to read you.”

“i’m not sure if that’s comforting or worrying.”

June laughed easily, taking the comment right in stride.

“That’s alright. I get it. I mean, it was weird to walk in and find out this version of Grillby knows us already. How does that even work?”

“not a clue, bud. i’ll talk it over with the others when i get the chance. also, i couldn’t help but notice…”

“That I totally bypassed your request? Yeah, uh, unless you can magically produce something that’ll let me breathe when there’s no oxygen in the air, I’m staying like this, pal. Sorry.”

“actually, i think that can be arranged. it’ll take a bit of doing, though.”

June raised skeptical, yet intrigued eyebrows at this.

“Really? You really think you can manage it?”

“yep. and better, once i make one for you, i can copy it and make another for the little tyke to get her out of that suit.”

They both paused as a blush crawled its way onto his face. Outer quickly averted his eyes as June tried to stifle a laugh.

“…that came out wrong.”

“I should hope so!” she cried, bursting into a fit of whole-hearted laughter, knowing full well what he’d meant. Outer Sans buried his face, and once her fit of giggles died out, he spoke again, voice muffled.

“are all of us this awkward around you?”

“At some point, yeah. It’s kind of cute, really.”

“that’s not helping,” he groaned, still not looking up at her.

“You asked. Really, I think the only ones who haven’t turned into awkward little dorks stumbling all over themselves around me and May are Ink and Error. Oh, and I suppose Classic, but…no, he did blush at both of us before, never mind.”

“you’re really not helping. wait, did edgy?”

“Oh yeah. He blushed the most out of all of you so far!” June couldn’t contain another round of giggles, remembering half the things Fell Sans had blushed at. This got Outer to grin again.

“ha! i knew it. the others said he couldn’t, but i knew. guess they didn’t figure on you, heh.”

“Yeah, well, given the circumstances, we’re a pair of variables that just couldn’t be factored in to the equation.”

Sans froze for a second, then a bigger grin than before spread across his features.

“you never mentioned that you knew such _acute_ puns.”

“Well, I certainly wasn’t being _obtuse_ about it. I prefer to be perfectly _plane_ when it comes to my sense of humor.”

“it’d be pretty _irrational_ to be anything else.”

“Yep. Though, not mentioning things certainly _adds_ an air of mystery, don’t you think?”

“well, it certainly doesn’t _subtract_ from anything, that’s for sure.”

June was finding it harder and harder to keep a straight face. All the puns were really starting to get to her.

“I think it _multiplies_ the _value_ of a conversation when the _sum_ can be measured by the _mean_ amount of how much fun the participants had when partaking in the exercise. Then again, most people aren’t interested in talking when it comes to me…” she added with a theatrical sigh.

“really? from the way you talk, could’ve _foiled_ me.”

“ _Oh my stars, enough, both of you!_ ” Grillby finally shouted from behind the bar, unable to listen to another math pun from the pair. They both started cracking up at that, June turning back towards the fire elemental.

“Sorry, Grillby! Couldn’t help myself,” she answered, swirling over to him. “Usually, my audience just laughs at me. They don’t pun back! But I do appreciate you putting up with it, for May’s sake. We both owe you big time.”

She pressed a quick and gentle peck on his cheek before sweeping back out from behind the bar, stretching as she did so.

“Actually, I’m kind of beat. It’s about time I hit the hay, too. Don’t worry about a bed for me, I couldn’t lay in it anyway. I’ll just hang out in the rafters. Night boys!”

Before Outer Sans or Grillby could say anything else, she flew up into the rafters of the bar, settling on one like a cat and crashing. They both stared after her for a second.

“she’s really something, isn’t she?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’m not the one she likes to have a pun war with.”

“…shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! So, for those of you that read the last chapter before I updated it, there's nothing really new to the chapter itself. However, I did add an end note I'd like you guys to see, so when you get the chance, I personally would appreciate it if you'd take the time to go look. Also, to anyone who's missed them thus far (because I'm a dingus that adds them after the chapter's already up), I also went back and added a small section in the end notes of certain chapters to give credit to the members of the Undertale fandom who created the AUs we've seen so far. We will continue to do this as the story progresses, but if anyone sees that we've come to a new AU and there's no Credit to the Creator(s) section, don't worry. I've probably just forgotten it upon posting the chapter and will remember to come back and add it in later.  
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this one as always, and I'll see you next week for more! -S


	17. Lessons Learned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this isn't exactly a trigger warning, but there will be some heavy-duty creepy-ness near the end of the chapter due to a certain monster. You'll know what I mean when you get there. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this one, since it's not as plot-heavy as I usually write. -S

June was actually very impressed and very proud of her baby sister. Through both freeing Fell, and now Outer, May had been strong and resilient, never complaining about anything thrown her way. Having to break Error’s strings over not one universe, but two, couldn’t be easy on the small child. And yet, here she was, still duking it out with monsters just to free them and spare them, as determined as ever. June really couldn’t be happier, relieved to know she was doing something right in raising her sister the way she was.

They were actually back on the Waterfall asteroid, with Muffet teaching May more about the magic she had unlocked, and it was going pretty well…if it did feel a bit like being back in school for the teen, since all her classes had been too easy for her, and thus boring. As Muffet’s lesson for May didn’t pertain to June, she was rather bored, and more or less just playing around with her own newly-acquired gravity magic.

“Intent is everything, dearie,” Muffet was saying, “So your poison and traps’ effectiveness will depend on your intent when you go to use it. Like when you used your poison on me before. It was potent enough to bring me down because you were desperate. However, because you didn’t actually want to harm me, it was still fairly weak in comparison to, say, my poison. And we still need to work on your timing for your traps.”

“Right. Which should we do first?”

“havin’ fun, there, comet?”

“ _Jesus fuck!_ ” June shouted, jumping hard at Outer’s sudden appearance behind her. The object she had been holding with her magic wavered when she jumped, then sped to where she heard him as she whirled to face him. Realizing it was reacting to her instinct to defend herself, June concentrated on stopping the item, slowing it enough for Sans to catch it in his hand as it glided up to him.

“that could have ended badly.”

“No shit. Don’t startle me like that, man!”

“sorry.”

June sighed, running a hand through her windy hair and glancing out at the starry horizon to calm herself before focusing on Outer again.

“You really can’t sneak up on me like that. Messing with me while I’m practicing with my powers is really dangerous if I don’t know you’re there.”

“dually noted. again, my bad. you okay?”

“Are you alright, June?” May called over. The older waved her sister off, Muffet huffing at her and Sans from where she stood.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Really, I should be asking you that, since you were the one almost run over by…what was I practicing with, again?” June grimaced to Sans.

He glanced at the item he held and chuckled to himself, showing it to her.

“probably wouldn’t ‘a hurt me if it did hit me. besides, it seems like this was _drawn_ to me anyways.”

June tried not to smile as she groaned – it was one of her sketchpads, and it had opened to a page she had already drawn on. In fact, it was on a page that she had practiced designs for sugar skulls on for Día de los Muertos – the Spanish holiday, Day of the Dead. She had heard about the holiday celebrating the dead in school after Halloween one year, and with Halloween being her favorite holiday, she took an immediate interest in Día de los Muertos. Now, every year after celebrating Halloween, she took the time to design her own sugar skulls, often heading over to the part of town that actually partook in Día de los Muertos to help with the festivities. Sometimes, she even sold her designs, or got to make them herself.

But that wasn’t exactly important to the moment. What was important was out-sassing the punny, space-themed skeleton in front of her.

“Yeah, you certainly seem to have a _magnetic_ something about you,” June quipped, putting her hands on her hips. “But I’d wager you’re a lot _sweeter_ than the _numbskulls_ on the page.~”

Outer flushed, looking both confused and flustered.

“i, uh, you – what?”

May giggled from afar, watching the exchange. Muffet huffed in annoyance, as her lesson was being interrupted.

“You know what would be really sweet, dearies? If you’d stop interrupting May’s magic lesson,” the spider hissed, and June chuckled, embarrassed. “Or, even better! Sans, why don’t you teach June how to control her magic while I handle May’s? That’d be much more productive, don’t you think?”

June centered her magic on the sketchpad and pulled it out of Outer’s hand, making it hover near her, since she couldn’t actually touch it right now. Well, that was the intention, anyway. She ended up accidentally wrapping Outer in her blue magic as well, making both him and the sketchpad hover near her like she had a gravitational pull of her own.

“well, i was going to comment about how i’m too much of a _lazybones_ for that,” Outer threw out there as he spun around June, “but now that i see the _gravity_ of the situation, i’m starting to think that’s not such a bad idea.”

“Sorry!” June exclaimed, blushing (how it was possible that a being currently made of wind and air could blush…) and trying to figure out how to put the skeleton down while still holding her sketchpad. (She could acknowledge the puns later, once she had more control over her magic.) Man, this had been a lot easier when she was in the heat of battle with Error…

Once June actually managed to put him down, Outer grabbed the sketchpad again and gestured for her to follow him. She hesitated, since that would mean leaving May alone with Muffet, but complied after a minute.

“so…tell me everything you know about magic.”

“It’s not much, really. Or anything. Just that mine is…quirky is a good word for it, I guess. And different colors do different things. Like blue controls gravity, and orange does damage as long as the target is holding still. Then May’s magic is purple, which is evidently a sort of trapping and poison-dealing type of magic.”

“right, right. so you know…extremely little, actually.”

June snorted, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

“I am the epitome of unsurprised.”

Outer chuckled as well, flashing her a smile before buckling back down again.

“how much of muffet’s teaching were you listening to?”

“Uh, not much, really. Like, I was listening, but not paying really close attention. Why?”

“she mentioned intent, right?”

“Um…oh, wait. Yeah, she did.”

“good. because that applies to your magic, same as may’s. with magic, your intent means everything. an attack will do significantly more damage if the intent behind it is to harm the target in any way. the reverse is also true – monster food, after all, is actually made with the intent and emotions of the maker cooked in. so the healing properties in monster food actually come from the intent and feelings of the monster making them. the magic in the food as it’s being prepared is what stores those emotions and intent. see what i’m gettin’ at?”

“I think. What I’m getting is that magic has a lot to do with what you want to do with it. It doesn’t just do its own thing. It needs direction before it’ll react, and that direction comes from the intent of the user. That about it?”

“more or less,” Outer nodded, looking mildly impressed. “good way to sum it up, actually.”

June hummed in response, the Echo Flowers around them softly mimicking the sound of June’s windy form as she passed.

“anyway, from the sound of it, intent isn’t your issue. but it is somethin’ you needed to know.”

“Okay. So what’s my issue?”

“let me answer that with a question: what are you doing when you try to use your magic? how do you think of it?”

June tilted her head as she contemplated it, slowing down until she came to a stop and faced Outer.

“Um…I guess I think of it as if it were any of my other powers. The effect is similar to my other powers anyway, so I didn’t think it was all that different. Then again, my powers respond more to my physical, mental, and emotional states than the magic seems to…anyway. When I’ve been trying to use it, I’ve been trying to focus on it, like I would my powers.”

“okay…describe how you use your powers. that may be part of the problem.”

“Okay. With my powers, I would…it was like there was this well of power inside me. All I did was tap into it and redirect that energy towards whatever I was trying to use it for. This for example,” June added with a gesture to her current form. “And different powers used up different amounts of that energy, so I had to be careful with what I did. Ya know, resource management.”

Outer nodded, looking both intrigued and thoughtful.

“sounds like that is definitely your problem, then. what you’re doing with your powers is something different than how you have to handle your magic. see, those extra powers of yours…they draw on your magic itself. fractionally, of course, since you were only tapping into it rather than using the actual magic, but it’s still a thing. and basically, what you’re trying to do now is tap into your magic to use it. you’re asking your magic to feed itself, _from_ itself,” he explained to June’s blank look. “and that’s never going to work.”

“Doesn’t sound like it. So what do I do? What am I supposed to be doing?”

“well, your magic is the source of your powers, right? so, to control your magic the way you would your powers, you’ve gotta tap into the source.”

“The source…? But…wait, hold on.”

June stopped herself from speaking out loud while she thought it through. He was trying to help her draw a parallel to her powers, same as she had already been doing, but still guiding her towards the right way to actually use her magic. And talking about tapping into the source of things made her think of nature. Like following a stream back to the body of water that it came from. If the stream was her powers, her magic was the source body of water. Now she needed to trace the metaphorical body of water back to the original source.

It wasn’t that hard to figure out, really. Her magic was both blue and orange, like the two colors of her Soul. So naturally, the assumption was that her Soul was the source of her magic. (Geez, no wonder if she used her powers too much it had such a negative impact on her – she was essentially drawing too much magic from her Soul, and it was harming her.)

“So what you’re saying…is that I need to focus on my Soul, not the magic itself?”

“bingo. nice puttin’ it together so quick,” Outer grinned lazily, giving her a thumbs-up. She shrugged, still puzzled.

“Not really that hard to figure out when the colors of my magic match the colors of my Soul. But…how do I do that? It’s not like I’m conscious of my Soul inside of me. I can’t feel it that way I can feel my magic.”

“sure you can,” Outer answered, sliding his hands back into his pockets with a casual shrug. “you just have to learn how. what, you think monsters are born able to sense their own Souls?”

June had given him a surprised, if skeptical, look, but now raised her hands in surrender.

“I’m not assuming anything when it comes to monsters, man. I know basically nothing about monsters, so there’s nothing for me to even try to assume.”

“makes sense. you guys haven’t exactly had much time to learn anything about us in each universe, have you?”

June paused, actually thinking about that.

“No. Not really, come to think of it. God, we were in our own universe…geez, _maybe_ two days before shit hit the fan? And Fell was more like five or six…Science counts for around three or four – no, more like four or five, I remember now. God, that’s around two weeks?”

“uh, i meant that as a rhetorical question…but damn, two weeks. you’ve been through some shit for just two weeks.”

“No kidding. Fuck…” June ran a hand through her hair with a stressed sigh, her form rippling with the sigh. “Please continue teaching me about magic to distract me from getting overwhelmed.”

“right. can do. uh…what were we talking about before all that?”

“Something about teaching me to sense my Soul? Controlling my magic through that somehow?”

“oh yeah. right. thanks. usually it’s something that you have to work at for a while. monsters will teach their kids to focus so deeply inward that all they can feel or sense is their Soul. with kids, it takes a lot of time, and most of the time, it’s best to start them out by drawing out their Souls for them to hold while they figure it out, but…” Outer hesitated, blushing considerably. “that’s something done at home, with their families. not a technique we could use out here.”

“No, you’re right. Too exposed. Indoors would be better,” June agreed. (She also got the vague sense in the pause after the words left her mouth that there was something she missed, but let it go when Outer shook his head.)

“anyway, there’s still the idea of concentrating on yourself until you feel your Soul. you’ll just have to do it with your Soul still inside you.”

June nodded, but she still wasn’t sure where to start. Eventually, she sat down, and Outer settled down next to her, as if waiting to see what she would do.

“This whole focusing inward thing…is it anything like meditation?”

“meditation?”

“Yeah. Meditation is when you relax your mind and body to such a state that you are at peace and feel ‘one with the universe’. Really, I use it to either help focus my powers, calm down, or paint. Don’t ask – not a question I’m gonna bother answering right now,” June added before Outer could ask. She knew what his question would be – how did she paint if she was meditating? The answer to that involved her powers, and she really didn’t feel like explaining the process she went through right now.

“Anyway, when meditating, your guard is down and your senses are open, so it feels very vulnerable. However, some people are still aware enough while meditating to defend themselves, among other things. I…am both one such person, but not at the same time. It’s complicated.”

“…uh…i guess it’s kinda like meditation…? but not really. the way you described it, meditation is opening yourself up to be aware of everything around you, while also being aware of yourself. to feel your Soul, you have to tune out the rest of the world and focus Soul-ly inward.”

June smirked and tried not to chuckle at Outer’s pun, but he just grinned right back at her smile anyway. Still, that was some food for thought. Like meditation, but focused entirely inward instead of also focusing outward…maybe she could work with that.

Settling herself, she closed her eyes and began meditating, quickly reaching her “Zen” open and relaxed state. (Years of practice made it an easy task.) Once in tune with her surroundings, June tried turning her energies inward, to try to feel her Soul. But after a few minutes of this, she still felt nothing new. It was irritating – every time she thought she felt something, it turned out she was reaching for her magic again, as if she were trying to access her powers. But it was difficult to actually upset her while she was meditating. She was too at peace with the world. Still, she wasn’t sure what else she could do…she idly began to wonder how May was doing…

Thinking of her sister brought forth a well of emotionally charged memories, and with them, she felt something stir inside her in response.

She was used to her own strong affection and protective instincts when it came to May, but this…it felt more…primal, almost. It was something that ran far deeper than what she normally felt, and it would have freaked her out enough to snap her out of her meditation…except for a familiar voice that whispered in the back of her mind.

May…she cared so deeply for her sister. She would do anything for the little girl, including put her own life on the line. She had proved that time and time again. The bond between the sisters ran so deeply, it affected their very Souls. And it was this deep bond that would allow June to feel her Soul.

All that, this voice in the back of her mind whispered to her. And while it freaked her out to suddenly have a strange yet familiar voice in her head, it seemed to be right. And it seemed to be trying to help her. But she still pulled herself out of her memories and out of her meditative state with a jerking shake of her head, a hand over where her Soul resided in her chest.

“something wrong, comet?”

June glanced up at Sans and scowled slightly at the nickname. She wasn’t overly fond of the nickname he’d given her, but she let him do it. After all, his logic behind it was that she was fast and could shoot across the sky, just like a comet. Besides, it would have been hypocritical of her to ask him to call her by name when she wasn’t going to call him by his.

But to answer his question…was there anything actually wrong? Yeah, she had just heard a voice in her head that wasn’t hers, and she had been startled by the combination of the voice and the unexpected and new feeling of what she could only assume was her Soul, but…besides the worry that she might be going crazy from suddenly hearing voices that weren’t there, she couldn’t say there was anything actually wrong. Basically, she had freaked out for no reason. So how to answer that…

“Nah. I just…thought I felt something, and it startled me.”

Outer instantly brightened, perking up at the implication of her words.

“you felt something? what did you feel? describe it.”

June frowned, focusing on what she had felt.

“Um…it was like…it kinda felt like the start of when someone draws out my Soul. The initial tug, you know? But different. It felt…slower? And gentler, in a way. I dunno how to describe it, man. But that’s kinda what it was like.”

“no, no. it’s alright. that’s actually how it’s supposed to work. the tug is your Soul being stimulated, and unless your intent is to draw out your own Soul, then it won’t actually come out when you stimulate it. and you’re right, it is different when someone else draws it out. but there’s a lot to that that isn’t important to you learnin’ how to control your magic, so i won’t bother tellin’ ya right now.”

June frowned again, but nodded. As much as she wouldn’t mind getting sidetracked so she could learn a little more about monsters and magic and Souls, she did understand that Outer, like Sans and Fell had been, was kinda lazy. And since it didn’t have immediate importance, it was fine that she didn’t press for the information right now.

“but it’s good you figured out the first step. if you can stimulate your Soul, you can focus on it. and by focusing on it –”

“I can learn to properly control and focus my magic. I get it. Let me try again…”

Outer nodded, but June was already closing her eyes to begin meditating again by the time she registered the motion. Now…hadn’t the voice said the key to working with her Soul was to focus on the bond between herself and her sister? Holding onto that theory, June concentrated on strong memories she had with May, her Soul stirring in response. Well, that was a good sign, at least. But now what? Maybe try calling forth her magic and using it while she could feel her Soul?

With that thought, she could feel her magic flaring in response, the tell-tale flow of power and energy through her veins heightening her senses. One thing about using her powers (and now magic)…it made her hyper-aware and hyper-sensitive to certain stimuli. She had to be careful if she was exposed to those stimuli, but considering both were something she could actively shut off access to, she did have ways of protecting herself in those states.

But back to the task at hand. Focusing on her Soul, June tried channeling her magic, trying to see if she could fluctuate the strength of it the way she could her powers. Intensity and how much energy she was expending, yes, but strength? Not so much. So that one must be strictly controlled by intent after all. Fair enough, she supposed. Now the real test – just how much control did June now have with her Soul in play?

Still meditating on her Soul and magic, she slowly opened her eyes and turned her gaze on Outer, who gasped. The way he looked at her was if he was seeing her using her magic for the first time, and he was more in awe than afraid. Then June extended her blue-covered hand towards him, and he started, flinching a little. But rather than picking up the skeleton, June slowly smirked as her sketchpad began floating around his head. Outer relaxed, busting out into a skull-splitting grin.

“yeah! that’s it! you’ve got it!” he cheered, looking extremely proud. His enthusiasm was infectious, getting a chuckle out of June as her snarky little smirk relaxed into a more affectionate and kind smile.

“I guess so. It’ll take time to get used to, but I’ll get it. Thanks Outer. I owe you.”

Outer blinked at her sweet expression before beginning to blush.

“o-oh, uh…no need to thank me. someone needed to teach you what to do. since we sanses are the best gravity magic users across the universes, and that includes me, it just made sense…”

June chuckled at his babbling, which made him blush worse. She then swirled over to him, hovering just inches from his face.

“You’re so cute when you’re flustered. Too bad I’m supposed to be the air-head here,” she purred. Her current airy form distorted her voice so her naturally low tone was even softer than before, so only Outer could hear her. And before the skeleton could react, she hovered closer and brushed her lips against his cheekbone (to the best of her ability, since she was currently intangible).

“Wowie! You two make such a cute couple!”

And the second the new voice spoke, June jumped so bad, she shot away from Outer like a rocket. He had frozen at first, his whole skull blue with his blush and his eye-lights out, but June’s sudden movement startled him back to reality – and made him realize he had accidentally shut off his own gravity, evidently, as the force of her shooting away from him sent him spiraling in the opposite direction.

June herself flew blindly for a moment, her fight or flight instinct kicking in harshly. At the same time as she sped away from the surprise voice, her magic automatically responded to the instinct to defend herself and escape, her sketchpad zipping to the source of the voice. A hearty _whap_ marked the success of her sketchpad hitting its target, followed by an immediate, “Owie!” June then swooped and swirled around until she slowed to a stop, high in the air and well out of reach.

“I thought you were over here to talk to me, not hit me with books! Y’hear!” cried a large (like holy shit this thing was huge) monster sitting in the water, rubbing the spot where June’s sketchpad had hit it. (Rubbing it with…a tentacle…? What even the hell _was_ this creature?!)

June silently stared at the bulb-shaped tentacle monster from her aerial perch, her brain not fully processing what she was seeing. Hell, she couldn’t form a coherent sentence if she wanted to, her form wavering in her baffled state.

Outer, however, seemed to recover, and sighed, coming back over and picking up June’s sketchpad from where it had landed when it bounced off the creature.

“hello, onionsan,” Outer sighed. “and actually, we were over here because we didn’t think anyone else was. i was trying to teach her how to use her magic.”

Onionsan…? Well, now that he said it, it _did_ look more like an onion than anything…

“Oh…I see…” Onionsan said, drooping sadly, then perking right back up. “But now that you’re here, we can talk, y’hear?”

Outer heaved a heavy sigh, pinching between his eye sockets.

“i guess, if she wants to talk to you…but you’ll have to get her down.”

“Okay!” the aquatic onion cheered, turning to gaze up at June’s unstable form floating so high above them. “Miss windy lady? Could you please come down so we can talk? It’d be hard to hear you from all the way up there, y’hear!”

June finally stabilized long enough to form a coherent thought, and instead of answering properly, she just sputtered out, “ _What_ the _fuck?!_ ”

Outer snickered, but Onionsan made a face.

“Um, well, I can hear you just fine…but that wasn’t a very nice thing to say. Y’hear!”

“I-I don’t – _what the fuck even?_ Were you there the whole time?”

“Well, yeah, y’hear! I heard you two talking and came to see what you were doing. Not much else to do since everyone left…”

June flushed, sputtering some more as her form wavered and wobbled further.

“What? Like spying on us? Eavesdropping’s not cool, man!”

Onionsan sank into the water a bit from being scolded, but looked up at her pitifully, rather than shrinking away.

“It wasn’t eavesdropping! Or spying! Y’hear! It was just…you two were so cute together…I couldn’t interrupt you! I didn’t even mean to interrupt when I did, y’hear!”

June and Outer both groaned, blushing brightly. June unconsciously floated down some in her embarrassment as she hid her face with her hand, and Outer just yanked up his hood and drew the strings tight over his head.

“What? It’s true, y’hear! And you were both so quiet there for a minute, I thought you were done talking. That’s why I spoke up! Y’hear! I didn’t realize you were kissing!”

Outer jerked, and the blue glow coming from under his hood intensified, while June just groaned louder, using both hands to hide her mortified expression now, sinking down to hover just above the ground.

And as if by some magical sense of timing, May came bounding towards them, Muffet hot on her heels.

“June, are you okay? I heard yelling!” The little girl cried, trying to bounce to a stop by her sister. Instead she bounced until she reached the water’s edge, almost knocking into Onionsan. Once she corrected herself, she finally noticed the large monster looking at her in surprise and gasped, back pedaling so hard, she fell on her butt.

“Whoa! I…I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” she managed past her own surprise. Onionsan beamed at the little girl.

“It’s okay! It’s nice to meet you! I’m Onionsan, y’hear!”

“Uh, hi. I’m May. Sorry, just…I’ve never met a monster as big as you! You really surprised me!”

Muffet sighed from behind May, crossing her top set of arms and putting her lower set of hands on her hips.

“Get away from one, get drawn right to another…”

June peaked out from behind her hands to look at the spider monster, hoping for a reprieve now that Onionsan’s attention wasn’t on her and Outer.

“Away from what?”

“Hmm? Oh, well…there’s this monster, dearie, that everyone dislikes. Literally everyone. It’s… _Jerry_ ,” Muffet hissed, spitting out the name like it was something disgusting. June dropped her hands entirely and hovered closer to Muffet, the six-armed woman having the ravenette’s full attention now.

“Jerry? What’s so bad about this guy?”

As if June had said something taboo, Outer yanked down his hood and looked around like he was hoping no one had heard her. Muffet shivered in disgust, and Onionsan made a face, quickly followed by, “I don’t like talking to him, y’hear.”

Even May made a face, which drew surprise from her sister.

“You too?”

“Yeah. I tried, I really did, but he’s…god, he’s just so… _ugh._ I don’t like him.”

“Wow…and you like everyone. This is saying something. Like, what’d he do, exactly?”

May’s nose scrunched up at remembering just what she had to deal with, trying to put up with Jerry, slowly starting to list them off…

“Tellin’ your friends about me already, cutie pie?”

All present jerked at the new voice, and slowly turned. Standing near the edge of the group, eating from a bag of some kind of cheesy, powdery snack food, stood what looked like a traditional flying saucer straight out of the fifties come to life, complete with beady eyes and spindly arms and legs. This had to be Jerry.

“No,” May replied carefully, obviously trying hard not to sound mean or condescending. “I was just…actually, kinda. But not like that. And please don’t call me cutie pie.”

Jerry laughed, and June had to really put forth effort to maintain a neutral face. No more than one sentence, and he was already rubbing her the wrong way. Yuck.

“Whatever you say, cutie pie. As long as you introduce me to your friend here. Say, toots…come here often?”

The teen didn’t even try to hide her disgust this time, recoiling away from him. Okay, now he was crossing a line. And June wanted no part of him, nor did she want her sister around him. This was one monster she could do without.

“Fuck off, creep,” she spat, “And don’t call me toots.”

“Ooh, feisty,” Jerry replied with a smirk. “I like that.”

He then began licking the cheese powder off his hands slowly, as if he were trying to be sensual. All of them shuddered, June most of all, since he was trying to pick her up. Man, that wasn’t even a hint and he wasn’t getting it! What the fuck was she supposed to do about this?

Outer then took a deep breath, stepped forward, and said, “hey, jerry. i’ve got a tip for ya. want something that’ll drive her wild? you can find it on the other side of waterfall.”

Jerry paused, narrowing his eyes at Outer.

“Oh really? And what would you know about wooing a babe?”

“trust me, pal. i know the way to a lady’s heart. but if you want that thing, you’d better hurry. a, uh, hot little n-number like her?” Outer added, throwing a careless thumb towards June (despite the fact that he was blushing a bit as he said it). “who knows who’s gonna snap her up before you do.”

Jerry seemed to consider this, then nodded and took off. All present instantly relaxed, and in the pause that followed, June turned to Outer with a sly smirk.

“So…I’m a hot little number, huh?”

The skeleton flushed, and June laughed with May and Muffet, Onionsan squealing happily (and quietly, surprisingly) in the background. Once he recovered, Outer shook his head and turned serious.

“that trick will stall him for a while, but we’d better get moving if we don’t wanna run into him again. let’s head back to grillbz’s place.”

May and June both nodded in agreement, though Muffet hesitated before shaking her head.

“Too cold for me, dearies. But we can continue with the lessons another time. Stay safe, girls! Ahuhuhuhu~”

Both waved to Muffet as she scurried away (May more enthusiastically than June, of course), and Onionsan sank some in the water.

“Onionsan should probably go, too, y’hear. So not to catch Jerry again. Hope we can talk more another time! Y’hear!”

With that, he disappeared beneath the surface, and the girls followed Outer back to the Snowdin asteroid. Once there, June decided to practice her magic some more, summoning her orange and attacking trees for practice. Some of her attempts were pretty weak or clumsy, but she didn’t beat herself up over it. She was still learning, after all. (And she certainly wasn’t about to let Outer live down the “hot little number” comment. She liked seeing him flustered, after all.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it! Yeah, I know, this one was filler. That was the point. Don't the girls deserve a small break, though? Anyway, please let us know what you thought of Jerry and Onionsan in the comments. I'd love to see who's skin crawled at Jerry the way mine did writing him. :) Love you all, and see you darlings next week for more! -S


	18. A Chat Among the Stars

When the girls were done training (or, more accurately, watching June train), June, Outer, and Outer’s Papyrus all trudged in to Grillby’s, worn and ready to relax. (May didn’t trudge in with them because Outer Papyrus was carrying her. She was practically napping in his arms as they walked in.) The galaxy-themed fire elemental blinked at their drained expressions.

“Goodness, you all look like you’ve survived a meteor shower! Care to share what happened?”

“Training,” May murmured.

“embarrassment.”

“Onionsan. Thanks for reminding me,” June added sarcastically, shooting a look towards Outer as she blushed a bit. Grillby raised an eyebrow and smirked behind his flames at Outer and June.

“Oh? This, I wouldn’t mind hearing about. Please do share.”

The two in question both blushed and groaned, hiding their faces. May smiled and giggled in Papyrus’ arms, but the tall skeleton…was really of no help there, since he grinned and explained for them.

“SANS TOOK THE AIR ONE TO TRAIN HER BLUE MAGIC, AND EVIDENTLY, THEY WERE CANOODLING! ONIONSAN FOUND THEM AND STARTLED THEM, BUT HE ALSO WENT ON ABOUT HOW CUTE THEY WERE! AND I BELIEVE THEY WOULD MAKE A NICE COUPLE AS WELL!!!”

“ _Papyrus!_ ” both June and Outer shouted, blushing furiously. May was quite awake now and giggled at their plight with Grillby, though Papyrus was just confused.

“WHAT? IT IS THE TRUTH! I BELIEVE YOU WOULD BE QUITE GOOD FOR EACH OTHER!!”

They both groaned and moved as far from each other as possible, May and Grillby only laughing harder. Once they had settled down, however, Grillby began preparing something as Papyrus finally sat down, placing the half-awake May in his lap.

“As amusing and stressful as I can imagine that being,” Grillby commented, continuing to mix things together, “I’m not sure it would have left you all so tired. Training sounds like a good reason, but…forgive an old monster, but my gut tells me there’s more to this story.”

There was a pause, then all of them made faces with varying levels of disgust.

“That UFO-shaped thing…” June hissed. When this wasn’t clear enough for the bartender, May sighed and muttered, “His name was Jerry.”

All in the room suppressed a shudder.

“Oh dear. Now I believe I understand,” Grillby replied, sliding some drinks in front of them. “Perhaps this will help. It’s a little something we use to boost our magic when it’s low and re-energize ourselves. It might not work the same for you two, but…well, the idea is still there.”

May smiled and murmured a soft thank you to the fire monster, while June tilted her head at the offered drink, her windy hair swirling around her head and shoulders from the motion.

“So…it’s kinda like coffee for the Soul?”

All the monsters stiffened, blushing at her careless comment, but seemed rather confused as well.

“I…do not know what coffee is, nor how it is used, but I can’t imagine so.”

June now tilted her head in the opposite direction, more confused than before.

“But you said this would give us energy, right?”

“Well, yes…potentially. But –”

“That’s what coffee does. Just without the restorative effect on our magic.”

“I…fail to understand.”

The teen frowned, but picked up the drink set before her and finally began sipping it as she spoke.

“Well, coffee is made of something called coffee beans. Usually, they’re ground up and strained with hot water to make the coffee. It’s usually super bitter and nasty on its own, so people commonly use things like milk, creamer, and sugar to sweeten and flavor the coffee. Though some blends exist that already have a flavor or set of flavors mixed in with the coffee grounds. Anyway, point is, people don’t drink coffee for the taste. They drink it for the energy boost it gives…even if it’s only a temporary one. See, coffee beans – and thus, coffee grounds, which transfers into the coffee when you brew it – have this thing called caffeine, and it’s what gives the energy boost. But most of the time, people need more than one cup a day, since, as I said, the energy boost is a temporary one. Problem with that is that, the more one drinks, the more you build up a tolerance to the caffeine. So eventually, it stops working. And in truth, you can actually build an addiction to it. But that’s only if consumed in excessive amounts.”

The monsters drank in the information with bewildered, yet intrigued expressions (especially Outer). May just blinked blankly at her sister and took a large gulp of her drink before muttering into the lip of the cup, “I think you might’ve lost ‘em, sis. Too much at once.”

June blinked and chuckled, scratching the back of her head in mild embarrassment.

“Sorry, guys. When you said you didn’t understand, I guess I just figured it’d be best to explain what coffee was in the first place, and why I might liken it to this. Which is really helping by the way. Tastes great, too. Thanks, Grillby.”

With this added comment, the flame monster recovered first, smiling from glee at her positive feedback.

“I’m glad it’s doing its job, then. And that you enjoy it. Truth be told, your explanation was very helpful. And now that you have explained it, this…coffee sounds very much like what this drink is for.”

“I thought so,” June replied into the rim of her cup after she nodded. “You guys had such a weird reaction when I brought it up, though…”

All the monsters blushed, but didn’t elaborate on why. And now that she was feeling re-energized, May was very curious.

“You know, that brings up something really interesting, though. We don’t know all that much about monsters, or how things work for you guys. It makes me curious what all is different. Like, why is it every time the Soul is mentioned – unless it’s in a teaching or confrontation scenario – you guys get all awkward and blush and stuff? I don’t get it.”

“that’s because…” Outer replied slowly, his own blue blush highlighting his cheekbones. “it’s…the Soul is…personal. private. i mean, you wouldn’t go around talking about your private parts all willy-nilly, would you?”

“No, of course not!”

“well, for us, talking about the Soul is like doing that. like, speaking about Souls in general is fine, but talking about one’s own Soul, or the specific Soul of another is…eh, not really something you do.”

“So basically, anything to do with Souls as more than just a generalization could be taken in a sexual context,” June stated bluntly, conveying her theory. From their reactions, she was right.

“THAT IS…CRUDE, BUT ACCURATE. UNFORTUNATELY.”

May was giggling, blushing now herself, while June just hummed softly, an amused smiling curling the edges of her lips.

“why are you so good a summarizing things?” Outer asked, hiding his face by pressing it to the bar top. June shrugged nonchalantly.

“Dunno. Just became good at condensing or making sense of complicated things somewhere along the way.”

“I have a question,” Grillby spoke up, shifting the girls’ attentions to him. “What would be considered embarrassing for humans, since this is such a…tricky subject for monsters?”

“Well, generally sex is considered a taboo or embarrassing topic. Thing is, it’s not something that embarrasses me specifically,” June answered automatically. Papyrus gave her an odd look.

“AND WHY WOULD IT?”

There was a pause, then June replied, “Because I grew up among humans on Earth. It’s easy for me to forget sometimes that I’m…not exactly human myself, even if I look it. Vaguely.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie, since she had never really felt a connection with humanity anyway, but it was still odd to say it that way. Luckily, Papyrus bought the almost lie/partial truth and nodded in understanding.

“I SEE! THAT COULD POTENTIALLY BE VERY CONFUSING!!”

The teen nodded in agreement, turning back to Grillby to further answer his query.

“Anyway, in human society – or at least, the one in the part of the world we came from – sex is considered something very personal and private. Often, it’s cast as something shameful and dirty and primal, so it’s not something most people are comfortable talking about casually. And there are even a few religions that look down on not just people, but women specifically, for having sex before marriage. Because of the impact that kind of thing has, it’s generally considered taboo or embarrassing to speak of in public or around anyone you aren’t familiar with on that kind of level.”

“And why is it different for you? Why are you not embarrassed by it?”

“Because I don’t care,” she replied flatly. “I literally have no fucks to give about societal conventions or norms. I know I stray very far outside what is considered normal and acceptable, and I have for a long time. Eventually, I just quit caring about what anyone else thought and lived according to what felt right to me. And I understand that doesn’t work for everyone. But it works for me, and since that’s how I chose to live my life, I say that’s good enough.”

“Hence why you are not ashamed to talk about potentially embarrassing topics.”

“Yep.”

There was a companionable pause, then May piped up, “Ya know, you say that, but when you were giving me ‘the talk’, you were pretty red in the face.”

June almost spat out her drink, Outer’s eye-lights went out with him choking on nothing, Grillby almost dropped the glass he was cleaning, and Papyrus…was confused.

“That’s…!” June sputtered, face flushed. (Or as close as a being made of wind and air could get.) “That’s because you walked in on me with somebody! How the hell else was I gonna react?!”

May was blushing herself, shooting her older sister a scolding look.

“I know. I remember. Sometimes, I wish I didn’t. At least, not…that part. Ugh.”

She shuddered, blushing harder. June groaned and hid her face in her arms, leaning on the bar. Papyrus was still confused, while Grillby was chuckling now.

“and _when_ did this happen?”

“About three or four years back,” May answered, directing her attention to the shorter skeleton. “But I can promise you, I have always knocked before entering a room ever since.”

“wait, so…how old are you now verses then?”

“Well, I’m twelve now, and I was eight or nine then, so…yeah. Heck of a time to be getting… _that._ ”

Again, she blushed and shuddered. June issued a soft whine, muffled by her arms, but the monsters were too focused on May’s age to react much to June’s embarrassment.

“You are…twelve? You look awfully young to be twelve!” Grillby remarked, making May pout and cross her arms.

“Yeah, I’m twelve. Pretty sure I know my own age. But I know I look younger than that. It’s because I’m so short…”

“Don’t forget cute,” June mumbled, repeating it louder when prompted.

“wow, twelve, huh? wouldn’t have guessed that. then, how old’s –”

“Eighteen,” the elder ravenette replied instantly. “We’re six years apart.”

Grillby murmured something under his breath the others couldn’t catch, but June’s head shot up, since he was standing the closest to her.

“Am not! Eighteen is the age of consent where we’re from!” she exclaimed indignantly, her windy form wavering. Grillby blushed lightly and raised his hands in surrender.

“But…you have…well, for lack of better wording, ‘been active’ for some time, yes?”

“Well, yeah. Since fifteen, minimum.”

“So at one time –”

“ _I was not jailbait, Grillby!_ ”

Sans again choked on the air, his eye-lights going out once more and his face as blue as Papyrus’ armor. Papyrus himself just looked very lost (poor thing), while May was snickering softly to herself and sipping her drink.

“Maybe we should talk about something else…” May added knowingly, giggling helplessly when June whipped towards her.

“This all your fault anyway! You started us down this road!”

“ _Me?_ ” May cried, indignant. After a pause, she smiled and shrugged, adding, “Actually, yeah, I did. It was unintentional, but yeah, I did.”

June groaned loudly, slapping her hand over her face dramatically. She sighed and recovered, however, and agreed that they needed a topic change.

“So, what’s it like living out here among the stars?” May asked innocently, tilting her head. “I mean, do you guys have different horoscopes or constellations and stuff, since you have a better view of the stars?”

The monsters looked at her in confusion.

“Horoscopes?”

“constellations?”

“BETTER VIEW OF THE STARS??”

The girls looked to each other and smiled, both of them taking the hand of a monster (or, in June’s case, pushing him along by literally moving through him as a gust of wind) and guiding them outside.

“If you boys would indulge me a moment,” June said as the girls pushed and pulled them along, “I’d like to show you what humans know about the stars, and what we do with that knowledge.”

Once the girls had them sitting down in the snow outside the bar (May curled up in Grillby’s lap, since he was warmest), June swirled to the front of the group, angling herself so she could talk to them and point to the view around them.

“See that star over there? Humans call it Polaris, or the North Star. In ancient times, humans used it to guide themselves at night, whether by air, land, or sea. Really adventurous humans still do, but they have to teach themselves how to do it, since it’s fallen out of practice with the rise of technology. Interestingly enough, Polaris is also a part of a constellation, or a group of stars humans thought formed a pattern in the night sky. And if you follow the pattern of the stars…”

Here, June used her fire and telekinesis to form floating lines between the stars in question, tracing the constellation.

“The picture emerges. This particular constellation is called the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major.”

“ursa major?”

“It’s Latin, which is a dead human language, but the rough translation is ‘Great Bear.’ Because of the shape, it’s one of the top three easiest constellations to recognize. One of the others is the kid sibling to the Big Dipper…creatively called the Little Dipper, or Ursa Minor, meaning ‘Little Bear.’ It can be found close to Ursa Major, right here.”

Again, she traced the pattern of the constellation with her powers, making it easy for them to see in the sky.

“Now, the third easiest to find has a couple of connections to it. The ancient Japanese – a type of humans who live in a place on Earth called Japan – used to think this one looked like a drum, but ancient Greeks and Romans – humans from the countries Greece and Rome – thought it looked like a person. Today, most Americans – those from the United States of America – see it from the perspective of the Greeks and Romans, so we call it Orion. To us, it looks like a man, and these three stars make up his belt. Those three, all lined up like that, are what make Orion so easy to spot. However, there are a lot more constellations out there, each with their own history and culture they hail from. But the most interesting thing that humans did by far when it comes to the stars…is predict the future with them.”

“WHAT?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!?!”

June chuckled, briefly wondering how best to approach the answer to that.

“It’s…complicated. Thing is, humans weren’t always accurate in their readings of the stars and their alignments, so most of the time, people would get it wrong. But sometimes, very rarely, you could get lucky and find someone who knew enough to get it right. Thing is, it doesn’t happen all that often, so there are a lot of humans today that don’t believe in the power of horoscopes.”

“Horoscopes?” Grillby asked, repeating himself from earlier. June nodded, smiling.

“Horoscopes are how humans read the stars to predict the future. Thing is, in order for them to be accurate, each horoscope needs to personalized to the person requesting it. Otherwise, the horoscope is too generalized, and it becomes inaccurate. Thus why many humans don’t believe in the horoscopes.”

“Fun fact,” May added from Grillby’s lap, “the horoscopes are often referred to as sun signs, or the zodiac.”

“This is true. However, in reference to the zodiac, there are other cultures that use that same word to refer to their own methods of reading the stars and such to determine the future. Not everywhere on Earth is going to do it the same, guys,” June commented to their awed faces. “I mean, it’d be like comparing how I use my gravity magic verses how Sans and Papyrus do it. It’s naturally going to be different.”

They all bobbed their heads in understanding, mystified by the information she was giving them.

“Anyway, the basics of horoscopes and the zodiac we are familiar with are that there are twelve signs total. Everyone’s birthday tells them what their sun sign is, and gives a general idea of what to expect out of a person born under that particular sign. There are some that don’t follow the general guidelines, like me, but that’s a technicality I’ll get to later. So, for example…Papyrus, when’s your birthday?”

“APRIL SECOND!!”

“That makes you a pretty solid Aries. People born under the Aries sign are energetic, athletic, and outgoing. They’re also very strong personalities, and they’re often n…innocent. And very trusting,” she quickly corrected, thinking saying he was supposed to be naïve would hurt his feelings. “They also tend to be kids at heart, and they take delight in everything around them.”

“WOWIE!! ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE TRUE ABOUT ME!!!” Papyrus gasped, slapping his hands to his face comically with sparkles in his eye sockets.

“Yep. And Grillby, when’s yours?”

“My birthday? It’s December twenty-ninth.”

“Then you’re definitely a Capricorn. Capricorns are generally extremely hard workers, and are often considered the workaholics of the zodiac. They’re ambitious, yet cautious, and very responsible people. And when a Capricorn gives you their word…if you’re in a time of need, if you ever have your back to a wall and you know a Capricorn…they’re your best friend and most trusted ally, because they are as reliable as they come. Oh, and when I say Capricorns are ambitious, I don’t just mean in their work. They can have ambitious personal goals they seek to achieve and be content with their station in life otherwise. Capricorns are definitely someone you want with you in a pinch, no doubt.”

“My word…” Grillby murmured, his flames crackling in surprise. “That’s all so accurate! If I haven’t noticed those things about myself, I’ve had people tell me they appreciated those traits about me! That’s incredible!”

June smiled slyly, pleased by their impressed reactions.

“YOU ARE SO KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT ALL OF THIS, AIR-ONE!! HOW DO YOU KNOW ALL THIS?! ARE YOU ONE SUCH PERSON WHO IS CAPABLE OF PREDICTING THE FUTURE WITH THE STARS?!?!”

“No, Paps, I’m not,” June replied with a soft chuckle. “I just know a lot about the stars and stuff because I studied them back on Earth. Though we can’t see them as well from Earth’s surface as we can here, that’s for d-arn sure…”

May giggled at June’s almost-swear, then turned to look up at Grillby.

“Was there anything else we could tell you guys about humans or human culture?”

All three fell silent as they thought, then Papyrus snapped his fingers when something came to him.

“WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE COLORS? I HAVE BEEN CURIOUS FOR SOME TIME!!”

The girls blinked and had to resist laughing at the randomness and innocence of that question in comparison to their previous conversation with the monsters.

“I like bright, vibrant colors! Like pink, and light blue, and lavender, and grass-green, and sunshine-yellow!” May giggled adorably, beaming.

“Whereas I prefer dark shades of colors…but in more general terms, I like red, blue, purple, and black.”

Papyrus smiled and thanked them for the information, while Outer was trying not to look too interested in their answers. Before the questions could continue, however, Grillby gently pick May up out of his lap and stood.

“As fun and informative as this has been, I suggest we go back inside. You both have done fine work helping everyone, but it still isn’t safe for us to be out longer than is necessary.”

June nodded, swirling into a standing-hover rather than a sitting one.

“He’s right. We’d better move this party back indoors.”

The five of them returned to the safety of the bar, only then continuing the back and forth questioning of each other. Once May began to struggle to form coherent responses, they called it a day and sent the girl (and Papyrus) to bed. (June ended up accompanying Outer to the basement behind the skeleton brother’s house to keep him company while he worked through the night, trusting her sister to Grillby.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allow me to give you all a taste of my interest in horoscopes, the zodiac, and the stars...lol. Anyway, before anyone asks, the reason for that pause before June explained that she grew up among humans to Outer Paps was because, even though Outer Sans is aware of the multiverse and the other AUs, I personally headcanon that Outer Paps doesn't yet know, and since June is still in her guise of a wind elemental so she can breathe...he thinks she's a monster who grew up on Earth with the human child she's come to see as a sister (May). He'll find out the truth eventually, obviously, but...that's a worry for another day.
> 
> Also, I've actually got several other works that are going on behind the scenes right now, and I'm most likely going to start posting them soon. Most of them are either also being co-authored by Book_Warrior7, or she's helping me with ideas and betaing them for me, but if you're interested in more from me at the very least, please keep an eye out for when I start posting more! (Not gonna lie, most of them are also gonna have June and May. What can I say? They're my go-to girls for Undertale at this point.) Not sure what my posting schedules for those will be once I get started, but we'll see when we get there, yeah? Oh, and all the ones with June and May that aren't Breaching the Multiverse (or the coming bonus chapters - keep an eye out for those as well!) will be gathered in a collection of stories for easier finding.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this one, and as always, we'll see you next week for more! -S


	19. Why Worry about Titanium

June was out practicing her magic again with May playing in the snow when Outer came rushing up, much more excited and energetic than the girls had seen any Sans be so far.

“guys, guys! i did it! i finally managed to make a set of working masks for you to breathe out here!”

Both perked up instantly, his grin and enthusiasm infectious.

“Well? Let’s see ‘em then! Get these puppies to work,” June replied, swirling closer to the skeleton. He eagerly held out a mask for the girl, and she carefully used her magic (as practice for her blue, since it was still a work in progress) to raise it to her face.

“Okay, so, how do I…?”

“here, let me – may, hold this for a second.”

May nodded as Outer passed the second mask off to her, with him holding the mask straps in such a way that June could actually position her head in the mask without her airy form distorting.

“Alright…so I guess the best thing to do here is to have you hold it open like that while I change back to my normal form. Then…I guess just make sure the mask is secure so I can breathe. If anything goes wrong, I’ll just turn into wind again. Sounds good?”

Outer and May both nodded, looking apprehensive about it. June shifted a little, then sighed.

“Alright, here we go…”

She sucked in a quick breath, then released her held energy that maintained her wind elemental form. In a great burst, the air dispersed, and June settled to the ground, her hands flying up to grasp at the mask and secure it to her face. In the process, June’s and Outer’s hands became tangled a few times, but they got the mask on her and adjusted without too much trouble, despite the two of them blushing. (Though, for June, it was debatable whether it was because she was embarrassed, or if it was the lack of air affecting her.)

With the mask solidly secured to her face, June finally released her held breath, gasping for air instantly. And, much to everyone’s great delight, she continued to breathe without trouble.

“Oh!” June grinned, unable to hide her own enthusiasm. “Hey! It works!”

Outer grinned back, then paused as he studied June in her natural form. May looked excitedly between the two, then seemed to notice something. Before she could speak, however, Outer continued.

“looks like i get my wish after all.”

“Oh?” June replied, quirking an eyebrow at him with a knowing little smirk. Outer seemed to realize how it sounded and flushed, backpedaling.

“i – i meant…! like, you remember how i originally wanted to know what you looked like? that’s what i meant!”

“Uh-huh…” June answered, stretching it out and maintaining her knowing facial expression. Outer continued to protest, with June egging him on through silent looks, as the elder sister helped the younger out of the suit and into the mask as well.

“Alright, alright,” June finally cut off the blue-skulled skeleton with a chuckle. “While methinks the gentleman protest too much, I was only messing with you. Calm thine non-existent tits, skele-man.”

This only served to fluster him more, but June just laughed and walked off, intending to go to the skeleton brother’s house to store the now unneeded space suit. May stayed behind with Outer, who was fuming, but in a very amusing way. After teasing him a bit about it herself (they were sisters for a reason), May finally remembered what she’d meant to mention earlier.

“Hey Outer?”

“yeah?” he sighed, clearly expecting more torment.

“Do you have fangs?”

He jerked at her question and his eye-lights instantly disappeared, face flushing once more. (Would his cheekbones permanently stain blue, May idly wondered. She decided it wasn’t important right now.) Once he recovered, the look he gave the child could only be called scandalized, and May instantly was both more curious, and regretting she asked in the first place.

“What?”

“i –” Outer stuttered, fumbling with his words and making sounds that weren’t quite coherent speech. “i-i don’t – how – what the _hell_ is with you two _doing that?!_ ”

May furrowed her brow with a frown. Geez, that was one heck of a reaction. But June finally came back just then, interrupting the conversation.

“Sorry, Paps stopped me on my way to put up the suit and tried to drag me along to check out his puzzles. Again. Love ‘im, don’t get me wrong – your version is an absolute gentleman and an angel – but priorities, ya know? What’s with the blue face?”

“I think I said something I shouldn’t have, and now he’s all flustered again.”

“Seems like a recurring theme with us. What’d you say?”

“I dunno. I just asked if he had fangs, ‘cause I thought I saw them, but I wasn’t sure. And then this.”

June’s eyebrows shot up, directing her attention to him.

“Is that so? Well, while I’d be… _very_ interested in the answer to that query, if it gets the poor guy this riled up, I think it’s best that we quit tormenting him for a while. Deal?”

May pouted, since she wouldn’t be getting an answer to her curiosity, but sighed and nodded.

“Okay…I’ll drop it. For now.”

“That’s my baby girl,” June replied fondly, bumping foreheads lightly with her sister. (Both knew the little girl wasn’t going to forget about this, but that was a bridge to cross at a later date. And preferably, with a less flustered Outer.)

“Anyway, since we’re both totally free to roam now without trouble, it’s time we hit up some of the last monsters May needs to free from Error’s strings. Any ideas where to start?”

Outer thought about it, then directed them towards the Ruins asteroid, since they hadn’t hit it or the New Home asteroid yet. (They were putting off the New Home asteroid until they had a solid plan on how to avoid Asgore during the whole thing.) After thanking him, the girls set out that direction, wandering around and fighting monsters to free them once they arrived.

The pair reached what appeared to be a balcony overlooking the rest of the asteroid belt when they encountered a particular monster who seemed to be humming tunelessly. May quietly approached and tapped on its shoulder, to have it gasp and spin around, immediately attacking. As usual, the girls ducked and dodged while May released the monster from Error’s strings, but one odd thing they noticed was that its attacks were based on its singing. And it was a pretty good singer, too. So much so that May grinned and planted herself, sucking in a breath and glancing to her sister before opening her mouth.

“ _You shout it out, but I can’t hear a word you say. I’m talkin’ loud, not sayin’ much. I’m criticized, but all your bullets ricochet. You shoot me down, but I get up._ ”

May faced the fish-like monster and sang whole-heartedly, encouraging the monster to do the same. The (possibly) female monster joined in by the chorus, her voice soft and shy. May, however, continued to encourage her as they sang together, creating a haunting harmony.

“ _I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away. Ricochet, you take your aim. Fire away, fire away. You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium. You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium._ ”

“ _Cut me down, but it’s you who’ll have further to fall,_ ” the monster sang on her own, egged on by the two smiling ravenettes. “ _Ghost town and haunted love. Raise your voice. Sticks and stones may break my bones. I’m talking loud, not sayin’ much._ ”

“ _I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away. Ricochet, you take your aim. Fire away, fire away. You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium. You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium. I am titanium. I am titanium._ ”

Again, the monster and human child sang in harmony, their voices blending better, now that the monster was singing with more confidence. Then May turned excitedly towards her sister, and June hesitated. The little girl obviously wanted her to sing, but…the older girl shook her head. What the hell? It was just one monster, and she needed the confidence boost. So, rather than signaling she wasn’t going to sing, June’s shaking of the head was to rid her of her hesitation. She then took a deep breath of her own, closed her eyes, and started on the third verse.

“ _Stone-hard, machine gun, firin’ at the ones who run. Stone-hard as bulletproof glass!_ ”

“ _You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium. You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium. You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium. You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium. I am titanium!_ ”

Once the three finished singing, the monster became shy again, but as May had already freed her, she clearly was happy to have sung with them. She softly introduced herself as Shyren.

“It’s nice to meet you, Shyren!” May chirped, as bubbly and sweet as ever. “I’m May. Mayflower Elizabeth Skies. And this is my sister, June!”

“Juniper Skies. I prefer June,” the teen automatically answered, but she was smiling as she said it.

“Would you like to sing some more with us, Shyren? ‘Cause that was really fun!”

The fish-like monster nodded quickly, and May thought for a bit before she perked up and picked a new song, whispering to June the one they should sing. June hesitated, but shrugged and started singing it anyway. Because again, if it helped…then why not?

“ _This sinking feeling sets. It feels just like a hole inside your chest. I know you’re thinking ‘No, no, no, no.’ It’s easier said than done, but please let me attest. I know it’s hard. You’re feeling like you’re trapped, but that’s how you react when you cannot see the light. But try and see the light. I’m telling you, no, no, no, no! You’re the only one standing in your way. Just take a breath. Relax._ ”

“ _And tell me why? Please tell me why do we worry? Why? Why do we worry at all? Why? Just tell me why do we worry? If worry’s never helping, tell me why, why worry at all?_ ”

The sisters’ harmony was natural and instinctual for them, even sliding up to each other and dancing as they sang. Once finished with the chorus, however, May darted over to Shyren and pulled her over so she could have as much fun as the two humans did.

“ _Why do we insist on crossing bridges that do not exist? Let’s take these issues step by step by step to work it out. Day by day by day, we’re falling down. But if life goes on, I’ve got some questions. Are you sick of feeling sorry? And people saying not to worry? Sick of hearing this ‘Hakuna Matata’ motto for people who won the lotto? We’re not that lucky. Have you noticed that you’re breathing? So look around and count your blessings! So when you’re sick of all this stressin’ and guessin’, I’m suggestin’ you turn this up and let them hear you sing it._ ”

Shyren proudly joined the chorus this time, her voice ringing as clear and true as either of the girls’, earning her wide grins from the two.

“ _Why? Please tell me why do we worry? Why? Why do we worry at all? Why? Just tell me why do we worry? If worry’s never helping, tell me why, why worry at all?_ ”

It was Shyren who covered the beatboxing and third verse, with the girls providing her backup. Together, they knew how to rock.

“ _Chin up. Quite acting like you’re half dead. Tears can only half fill. Now how you feelin’? Don’t worry, be happy, baby. Stand up. Life is too damn short. That clock is ticking. Man up. And if you feel me, everybody sing it._ ”

“ _Why? Please tell me why do we worry? Why? Why do we worry at all? Why? Just tell me why do we worry? If worry’s never helping, tell me why, why worry at all? Why? Tell me why do we worry? Why? Why do we worry at all? Why? Tell me why do we worry? If worries never help – and I’m not buyin’ what they’re sellin’ – so worry’s never helping, tell me why, why worry at all?_ ”

The three panted from the high energy of the song, but all three were beaming with a twinkle in their eyes. The girls were actually having so much fun, they continued to sing for hours with Shyren, just going with whatever came to mind (which was a lot of rock songs for June). By the time Outer came looking for them, a crowd had gathered at a safe distance, and the three were full-on performing. He had to drag them away from the Ruins asteroid to get them to stop and rest…after he listened to a few songs and promoted them a bit to help boost their confidence first, of course.

All in all, it was a short, but fun and productive day. But June had to wonder how many more of those they would get…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those interested in the songs the girls sang with Shyren, here they are! [Titanium](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg) by David Guetta feat. Sia and [Why Worry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sesKiKYQn84) by Set It Off. -S


	20. Playtime's Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a minute since we've seen any Gasters, huh? Well, since he's here again, his usual ROT2 cipher is with him. Part of the translations will be in the text and some will be in the notes afterwards, according to which ones the girls could and couldn't understand. Without further ado, enjoy! -S

The girls spent the next few days freeing everyone, taking longer among the monsters of the asteroid belt because they were spread out much further than any of the ones in the Fell universe. Along the way, they grew close to Outer Sans and Papyrus, enjoying hanging out with them and having intellectual conversations with them. But when it was time to go, June was surprised that Error didn’t make an appearance. Though suspicious of this, May said it was probably a good thing, since they were still learning about her abilities. June didn’t want to let it go so easily, but May was right, so they dialed up the Science boys and got Error’s last location from them, intent to move on.

The girls said their goodbyes, then set off, blinking away the bright light to find… they were falling. _Again._ May screeched, as per usual, and it was up to June to catch them, using her telekinesis again to slow May’s decent, June transforming into her airy form to fly herself. June carefully lowered her sister to a low hover then gently set her down, swooping low to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dirt as she settled, transforming back to her natural appearance and taking off her breathing apparatus. May peeled off her own breathing apparatus, grinning at her sister.

“Thanks! Guess the lack of falling could only last so long…”

June chuckled, stowing the breathing mask and putting a hand on her hip. Then she looked around, confusion crossing her face when she recognized their surroundings.

“Are we back at the Lab?”

May glanced up at the large building, surprise on her face as well.

“I think so. But what are we doing here? The universe number the boys gave us wasn’t for theirs was it?”

“I don’t think so. They’d have just said to come back and then given us the number. They certainly didn’t sound like they were in trouble…”

Suddenly, May gasped, her face lighting up as she cried out an excited, “Gaster!”

June turned as her sister darted over to the tall skeleton, throwing her arms around him in a big hug, spotting him as well. May might have missed the perplexed look on his face, but June didn’t, watching him carefully, her eyes narrowing sharply. The tall skeleton monster quickly adjusted his expression, eyeing June right back. He managed to pull a smile for the little girl when she pulled back, though.

“Hey! What’s up?”

“Jgnnq, nkvvng qpg. K co fqkpi ygnn. K ycu cevwcnna lwuv jgcfkpi dcem vq vjg Ncd. Ujcnn yg jgcf qxgt?” _(Hello, little one. I am doing well. I was actually just heading back to the Lab. Shall we head over?)_

“Sure! But, um…you _do_ remember that you don’t have to use sign language with us, right? The devices translate for you!” she added, holding up her wrist. June wanted to say something, but…they knew Gaster. Didn’t they?

“Qj, agu, kv ku lwuv jcdkv vq fq uq ctqwpf qvjgtu.” _(Oh, yes, it is just habit to do so around others.)_

Gaster then held out his hand for the smaller girl, which she took without hesitation. The older ravenette felt something was off with Gaster, but couldn’t place what it was. She quickly decided to question Gaster, to test him.

“So, where’s Sans?”

“Cntgcfa cv vjg Ncd, qh eqwtug.” _(Already at the Lab, of course.)_

“Oh? What’s he working on?”

Gaster hesitated, then let his gaze flicker back towards the taller girl before ushering them both into the Lab.

“Jg’u ycvejkpi jku dtqvjgt yjkng jg yckvu hqt og vq igv dcem.” _(He's watching his brother while he waits for me to come back.)_

“Really? _Papyrus_ is here?”

June winced slightly. She had almost forgotten her sister was still there, listening to the conversation too. The excitement in the child’s voice made Gaster smile, letting go of her hand so she could run ahead, since the smaller girl clearly knew her way around the Lab. June considered staying with Gaster and questioning him further, but with her sister running ahead to god-knows-what with a Gaster that was clearly suspicious…

“May, wait up!” she called, rushing after the smaller ravenette.

Just as she reached the opening of the hallway, there was the sound of something flying through the air at a high speed towards her, but before she could turn her head to see what it was – 

“Hng!” June grunted, a sharp pain radiating from the back of her head as whatever it was struck her. The force of the thing that struck her was enough to knock her out, sending the tall girl sprawling to the floor. May instantly stopped in her tracks, wheeling around at the sound of her sister in pain. Her eyes went wide as she spotted the teen on the floor.

“ _June!_ ” she shrieked, running back to the unconscious girl and kneeling next to her. She looked up as Gaster came closer, a sinister look on his face.

“What did you –” she started, Gaster cutting her off by using his blue magic to pick her up. She stared at him, fear tinting her icy blue hues.

“Swkv aqwt ukorgtkpi, ejknf.” _(Quit your simpering, child.)_

May whimpered softly, tears welling up as she and her sister were dragged along down a hallway she didn’t recognize, but kept mostly quiet. As they went, ethereal hands relieved both girls of their devices, alarming May even further.

“Hey! Give ‘em back! We need those!”

“Dg swkgv.”

When Gaster brought them by what appeared to be cells, she tried to struggle, thrashing about in the air and crying loudly.

“Gaster, please! You know us! Let us go! Please!”

“Swkgv, qt K’nn ocmg aqw tgitgv hkijvkpi dcem.”

“Why are you doing this?!” the tiny girl sobbed, tears rolling down her freckled cheeks. Gaster paused, staring hard at her for a moment before answering.

“Aqw yqwnfp’v wpfgtuvcpf.”

May tried desperately to kick and squirm and scream, tears streaming as she went wild, trying to do something, _anything._ Gaster grunted, keeping the girl hefted in the air by his magic, and had to throw her against the wall of the cell to get her to settle down, the blow stunning her. He then tossed June into the cell too, activating the lasers to the cell before the little girl could get up and run out. He backed away quickly, watching the girl stagger to her feet and run up to the electric beams.

May tried to reach out through the beams and grab at Gaster, but she yelped when the beams zapped her, and she yanked her hands back, stumbling back from them and tripping over her unconscious sister. She squinted at Gaster past the light of the beams, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy.

“Aqw ctg vq uvca kp jgtg wpvkn K eqog dcem hqt aqw. Cpf mggr kv fqyp. Aqwt xqkeg ikxgu og c jgcfcejg.”

“You can’t do this!” she screamed after him as he walked, her voice cracking, coming as close to the beams as she dared. “Gaster! _Let us out! Gaster!_ ”

But it was clear he wasn’t listening. He’d already walked away. Still, May was highly agitated and upset, looking around the cell for some way out, or something to wake up her sister with. Finding nothing, she sniffed, rubbing her eyes until she could see enough through her tears to find her way over to the older ravenette.

“June,” she said softly, shaking the older girl’s shoulder to wake her up. She tried to shake harder, calling her sister’s name louder, but the older still wouldn’t rouse. She kept trying until she was practically rolling June across the floor, shouting her name – still, the teen didn’t waken. When May heard footsteps coming back towards the cells, she finally stopped, scared that Gaster had heard her and was coming to punish her. But as the foot falls faded away without coming to the cells, she couldn’t hold back any longer, and the little girl curled up on the floor of the cell, sobbing into her knees.

That is, until a knock came from the next cell over and a voice called out to her.

“HELLO? IS ANYONE THERE? AND ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

May’s head lifted some, recognizing his voice.

“Papyrus?”

There was a pause from the other cell. Then –

“I DO NOT KNOW WHO THAT IS. BUT I AM HERE FOR YOU.”

May was about to reply, but she heard something she couldn’t quite make out. She could have sworn it was another voice, though, before Papyrus spoke up again.

“I DON’T CARE THAT WE DON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE! THEY ARE CRYING, AND QUITE LOUDLY. WE HAVE BOTH BEEN THERE. SO IT IS ONLY RIGHT THAT WE SHOULD COMFORT THEM!”

There was another pause, then the second voice she’d heard spoke up, loud enough for her to catch this time.

“hey. are you alright over there? you got kinda quiet…”

“I-I’m okay,” May assured them with a sniff, drying her tears. “But…what are you guys doing in here?”

“waiting for the next round of tests,” Sans answered dryly. May’s eyes widened a little in fright.

“T-tests?” she squeaked, her voice trembling.

“I DO NOT THINK THAT WAS HELPFUL. YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO THE…UM. WHO ARE YOU?”

“May. My name’s May.”

“TO THE MAY.”

May couldn’t help but giggle at Papyrus’ comment, leaning up against the wall with a little smile.

“sorry, ‘the may.’”

She giggled even more, unable to help herself.

“You don’t have to call me ‘The May’ like it’s a title. It’s just May. And, um…what do I call you guys?”

“I AM W.D.G.-2-P! AND MY BROTHER IS W.D.G.-1-S!” Papyrus exclaimed happily, encouraged by the sound of her laughter. Then a thought seemed to occur to him. “UM, MAY? WHY ARE YOU HERE?”

May fell silent, frowning and pulling her knees up to her chest.

“I…I don’t know,” she finally whispered back. “I mean, me and my sister came here to help save this world, but…now we’re the ones who need saving. And it’s my fault. June always said I was too trusting…if I had just listened to her…”

May buried her face in her knees, feeling her guilt pile up. If she had done this or hadn’t done that, would things have really turned out so differently? She couldn’t know, but didn’t care. She knew this one was on her.

“i don’t know how much help this’ll be,” Sans called over, clearly trying to at least get her mind off her own guilt, “but we have an escape plan.”

“An…escape plan? You’re busting out of here?”

“if that means getting out of these cells and leaving this place, then yeah, we’re busting out.”

“Great! What can I do to help?” Having something else to occupy her mind would certainly help, since she could think about the task at hand rather than worrying about what she couldn’t change.

“dunno. what can you do?”

May looked down at her hands, thinking.

“Well, I have some kind of purple magic, so I can trap people and poison them. And when my Soul is exposed, I have a shield to protect myself and others with. There’s something else I can do, too. I just know it! But…I have no idea what it is or how to use it. Which sounds really unhelpful, now that I think about it.”

“and the…whatever you keep talking about? that’s in your cell with you? what can they do?”

“Huh? Oh, you mean my sister.”

“WHAT IS A SISTER?”

“Well…sisters are like brothers, but with girls.”

“what’s a girl?”

May just sat there for a second, trying to figure out how to explain what a girl was to them. Finally she sighed, thinking explaining might take too long.

“…I’ll tell you when we get out of here,” she settled on, shaking her head. She then went on to explain (more or less) what all June could do, including about the blue and orange magic. By the time she finished, she’d also had to explain what many of the things were that she was taking about. Processing all the new information, the boys were silent for a long while.

“Guys?”

“WOWIE! THIS SISTER OF YOURS SURE SOUNDS POWERFUL!”

“yeah. i’m surprised he hasn’t dragged her off already to go run tests on her and stuff.”

May frowned, her heart skipping a little at the thought of June strapped to a table somewhere being experimented on. She shuddered, glancing over at the teen’s figure still unmoving on the ground near her.

“I don’t think he knows all of what she’s capable of. That’s probably why he hasn’t yet. Come to think of it, I think the only thing he saw her doing was using her telekinesis to catch me when we fell, and changing back from being all…windy.”

She winced slightly at her own words. Sometimes, her vocabulary wasn’t always her best friend.

“so why haven’t we heard anything from her? can she talk?”

“Yeah, she can talk. But…Gaster knocked her out when he caught us. I think he knew that he had to knock her unconscious first, because she was on to him, and obviously a lot stronger than me. I didn’t see what happened exactly, because I was too eager to see…an old friend…but I think he took her by surprise. Got her from behind so she wouldn’t see it coming and couldn’t fight back. Which is a really cheap and dirty trick,” May pouted, angry at Gaster for pulling such underhanded behavior.

“so she’s still out?”

“Yeah. And I don’t know how long it’ll take for her to wake up. I think he hit her pretty hard…that dirty, no-good…” May added under her breath, muttering a string of nasty words about Gaster without actually swearing.

“WHAT DO ALL THOSE WORDS MEAN?”

May winced again. She’d hoped they couldn’t hear her with how softly she’d been talking, but no such luck, apparently.

“They’re um…well, when you put them together the way I just did, it means that you don’t like someone or something they did. But you don’t say stuff like that to their face because it’s not nice! I mean, it’s not much better to say it behind their back, but…just don’t say any of that to someone else unless you really mean it, okay?” the little girl sighed, hoping she’d gotten her point across. There was a pause from the other cell.

“WHAT DOES ‘NICE’ MEAN?”

May froze for a second. Her heart twisted in her chest as the realization hit her, but she swallowed past the lump that had formed in her throat to give them an answer.

“Nice is…i-it’s when…okay, this is really hard to explain. Nice is something good,” she said slowly, searching for the right words. “Something that makes you happy. Like holding someone’s hand, or a hug, or a smile. Like a secret joke only you and one other person know about. Like when you eat your favorite food, or play with a favorite toy, or get to see a friend. Like singing and dancing and having fun with someone. Like when you’re scared or sad or lonely or hurt, and someone comes to make it better. Like when you get to be with someone you love. All that stuff…it’s good stuff. It’s nice.”

“I LIKE THIS WORD. I AM GOING TO USE ‘NICE’ MORE OFTEN!”

May gave a soft chuckle, murmuring, “And that’s why you’re so great…”

“WHAT DOES ‘GREAT’ MEAN?”

“It’s like nice, but better.”

“NYEH. THEN I SHALL BE GREAT!”

“hey, bro, what’s with that noise?”

“I DO NOT KNOW, BUT IT FELT LIKE A HAPPY NOISE.”

“It _is_ a happy noise. It’s called a laugh. Like what I was doing. That funny noise I keep making that sounds good and happy?”

“then why don’t we get out of here so we all have more reason to laugh?”

May perked up at this, a determined fire in her icy eyes.

“Sounds good to me!”

They then proceeded to go over details of Sans’ escape plan for a good several minutes. Then loud, pained groaning alerted them to June waking up.

“June!” May cried excitedly. This pulled another groan from the teen, curling up on herself and covering her ears with her hands.

“Oh, sorry,” May dropped her voice, putting a hand on her sister’s back.

“MAY’S SISTER PERSON! YOU ARE AWAKE AT LAST!”

“Shh!” May hissed softly, “She’s got a headache from Gaster hitting her.”

“OH. MY APOLOGIES. I WILL ATTEMPT TO SPEAK QUIETLY.”

“maybe let me do the talking, bro.”

“Please,” June begged, her voice muffled. After a second or two of silence, she uncurled slowly and stretched out, gingerly touching where she’d been hit and wincing.

“Okay…” June said in a low and even tone, putting her hand down and looking around. “Someone tell me what’s going on and where we are. Slowly and quietly.”

Sans began to explain, but as she listened, June started zoning out, noticing something on the far wall. When she got to her feet and moved to get a closer look, May realized a second too late that June didn’t see the electric lasers in her way.

“June, don’t –”

The teen cried out as she walked right into the beams, staggering back and falling to the ground again.

“Oops…” May murmured, wincing.

“yeah, might not wanna touch those.”

“Dually noted,” June growled, “but I was trying to get a closer look at that thing on the wall.”

“What thing?”

“That,” she pointed to it with a sigh. “It’s a camera. We’ll need to watch what we say. Assuming it has a working microphone, that is…”

“what’s a microphone?”

“It’s something that can hear what you’re saying. Sometimes, they can hear you even if you’re not in the same room,” May answered for June.

There was a pause as May and the boys realized the implications of this.

“Uh-oh…”

“Qj pq, rngcug eqpvkpwg. K yqwnf nqxg vq jgct vjku rncp qh aqwtu uq K ecp ikxg aqw vjg rtqrgt rwpkujogpv…” _(Oh no, please continue. I would love to hear of this plan of yours so I can give you the proper punishment…)_

Phone in hand, Gaster made his appearance, the small electronic translating for him. June didn’t need the look of fear on May’s face to spur her into action, but it certainly helped her motivation. In an instant she was on her feet and almost against the beams, her expression one of dark fury.

“You cheap, underhanded, son-of-a-”

“Joo, kpvgtguvkpi qdugtxcvkqp. Rqygt ocpkhguvcvkqp ku jkpfgtgf, dwt da yjcv?” _(Hmm, interesting observation. Power manifestation is hindered, but by what?)_ Gaster mused, having shifted his gaze to June’s hands.

“Come a little closer and I’ll give you a personal demonstration,” she replied, raising a sparking and sputtering fist towards him menacingly, her tone a venomous purr.

“Qj, aqw’f nkmg vjcv, yqwnfp’v aqw? Dwv K jcxg dgvvgt vjkpiu kp uvqtg hqt aqw.” _(Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? But I have better things in store for you.)_

“The f-”

“Acyp.” _(Yawn.)_

With that, Gaster pressed a button next to the controls for the laser beams, cutting her off. At first, nothing seemed to be happening.

“Lwuv ikxg kv c okpwvg.” _(Just give it a minute.)_

Then May caught a whiff of something and stood, coughing.

“What’s that smell?”

“Smell?” June asked, whirling around to face her sister, the alarm in her voice clear. She spun back around, an almost primal look of fear and anger on her face.

“The fuck did you do?!” she hissed.

“Qj, pqvjkpi vqq dki. Lwuv c pgwtqnqikecn cigpv vq ecno aqw fqyp.” _(Oh, nothing too big. Just a neurological agent to calm you down.)_

The smell hit her as she sucked in a breath of understanding.

“Knock-out gas?! May, hold your breath!” the tattooed teen cried, covering her mouth and nose with her hand to block out what she could of the gas. She turned back to look at the smaller ravenette, who was already swaying from the effects of the gas. Having already inhaled a generous amount herself, June felt her head swim, but screwed her eyes shut and refused to breathe. It wasn’t until she heard May collapse that she opened her eyes again, still holding her breath. June turned her piercing gaze on Gaster, fire radiating in her dark green eyes.

“Joo…jqy kpvtkiwkpi. K ecp’v yckv vq hkpf qwv jqy aqw vkem.” _(Hmm… how intriguing. I can’t wait to find out how you tick.)_

June glared, her eyes flashing. But she couldn’t hold her breath any longer and finally gasped, trying not to greedily suck down air. The few breaths of the knockout gas she’d inhaled were enough, but she struggled the whole way down, a smug Gaster the last thing she saw before blacking out entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Gaster Translations:**  
>  "Be quiet."  
> "Quiet, or I'll make you regret fighting back."  
> "You wouldn’t understand."  
> "You are to stay in here until I come back for you. And keep it down. Your voice gives me a headache."
> 
> **Credit to the creators:** Just [Handplates](http://zarla.deviantart.com/) this round.
> 
> Bet everyone was wondering when they saw Handplates in the tags when they'd show up. Well, here it is. And it's not going to be pretty. Most of the coming chapters are going to have trigger warnings, so please pay close attention to those as they roll out. No matter how much you like the story, it's not worth triggering yourself, okay? Please take care of yourselves, loves. And as always, we'll keep you posted on which chapters have the trigger warnings and such.  
> Oh, and as always, we hope you enjoyed this one, and we'll see you next week for more. :) -S


	21. The Struggle is Real

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Handplates has a lot of Gaster, it should be unsurprising to see his text in this chapter. ROT2 cipher as usual with the translations after the text. Oh, and **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!_** There is a small mention of blood and death in this chapter. If you need to skip that section of the chapter, it will be marked with the usual row of exclamation points. A summary of the skippable section will be in the end notes. -S

When June finally started to come around, she sat up slowly, wincing slightly at a pain in her arm. Glancing at it, she frowned and rubbed the spot, scratching at it a bit.

“Fuckin’ mosquitos…” she mumbled, chalking up the mark on her arm to that.

Now she climbed to her feet, looking around more. She was highly confused by the long hallway she seemed to be standing in. By all accounts, it was plain and unassuming, just a long corridor with off-white walls, floor tiles, and ceiling tiles. No door behind her, but the hallway didn’t extend out that direction. It only opened forward, and the teen had to squint to make out a bright spot of color at the far end of the corridor. Then the bright spot began yelling, calling her name. The ravenette’s eyes widened at the voice.

“May!” she shouted back, “What are you doing down there? How’d we get here? And where the hell are we?”

“I don’t know!” the little girl cried back, “But I’m stuck down here! I can’t get free, I’ve tried! I need help!”

“Alright, sit tight! I’m coming!”

“Wait!” May shouted before June could even get two steps down the hallway. “There’s something else in here, too! I don’t know where it is, but you’ll have to fight it when it comes back! Be careful!”

June froze where she stood. Something in the room with them she’d have to fight? That meant using her powers, and given she still felt her earlier head injury…

“Fuck,” she muttered, considering her options. Well, easiest thing to do would be to transform herself into wind again and zip to the other end of the hall before whatever it was got back. The real question was if she could pull it off.

“Worth a shot,” she murmured, glancing down at the drawing of wind on her palm. She concentrated her power into that marking, willing herself to change.

The effect was not at all what she wanted.

She managed to transform herself, but only partway. Everything but her skeleton became wind, her Soul glowing and visible in her chest, and she shrieked in pain. She released the energy immediately, dropping back to the ground in a solid form instantly, gasping and holding herself, as if making sure she was still in one piece.

“Fuck! Fucking…” she rasped, coughing, “Not that. Not that one. Fuck…shit, okay. What-what else …?”

She slowly got to her feet again, reconsidering her options. Okay, so the wind was out. Using her wings was out, too. The hallway wasn’t large enough for her wingspan. How else could she get down the hallway quickly? None of her other current powers were helpful for this. So a temp one, maybe. Teleportation? Too risky, she figured, given the results of the wind test. Who knew what else could go wrong with her powers malfunctioning the way they were. Super speed? That was just running, right? She could handle that. But when she searched for something to write with, she was surprised to find she didn’t have anything.

“The hell?”

June hadn’t been caught without so much as a pen since she’d discovered her powers when she was little. Not having one now was a shock to her. And it blew her idea out the window. So much for the temporary power. She swore more under her breath, trying to figure out what to do. But before she could even think, something shifted weirdly in the space between her and her sister. June watched in mute fascinated horror as a large white amorphous blob of sorts condensed from seemingly nowhere. And worse still, it seemed to be heading for May. Without thinking, June focused on her ice and threw out her hand, shooting oddly shaped ice spikes at the creature.

The sharp shards of ice ripped pieces out of the blob, and moved its attention to June. But as it started to move in her direction, the holes in it sealed up, like it never even happened.

“Regenerative ability. Great,” June muttered under her breath, trying to ignite her fire. She still only sparked.

Swearing more, she dropped her hands and dove to the side, dodging the blob’s swinging…arm? Appendage? Whatever it was, it wanted to make a pancake out of her. Turning on her heel, she shot out a couple more barrages of more defined icicles. It still took shockingly little damage. Worse, she was feeling herself beginning to move a little more sluggishly, the use of her powers draining her already low energy.

She gritted her teeth and pushed on, knowing she couldn’t stop now. Keeping her distance from the mystery attacker did little to help, as it also pushed her farther and farther from May. But as she didn’t know what would happen if she let it touch her, she refused to let it get too close. Knowing most of her powers were next to useless with her mental controls out-of-whack, she again tried to light herself. This time, it worked, flames forming around her hands with a satisfying _fwoosh._ A wicked grin on her face, she darted towards the creature, aiming at it and watching as the jet of fire became like a flamethrower. The flames did a significant amount of damage, much more than the ice, and it took the beast longer to recover.

Then an idea began to take shape. Running through some quick mental calculations, she realized she had her strategy and ran with it, pushing back the blob with timed bouts of alternating ice and fire. Forming a few fireballs and surrounding them in a shell of ice, she shrunk them down to increase the internal pressure before lobbing them like a baseball pitcher. Watching as they exploded from the pressure and tore much larger holes into the creature’s amorphous flesh, June then ran up and froze the remains of the creature before taking a deep breath and focusing a blast of sound, shattering it.

Panting from the exertion, June sighed and released the energy she had to keep her powers running and jogged the length of the corridor down to her sister. Just as she reached the little girl, a smile on her face to see that she’s unharmed –

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

Out of nowhere, a sharpened bone shoved its way through the child’s chest, right through her heart. June stopped dead where she stood, frozen for the briefest of seconds as she stared at the blood glistening on the bone. She barely heard herself scream as she watched the bone disappear again, dropping May to the ground like a ragdoll. When June knelt next to her sister’s body and was about to pick her up, the little girl’s body seemed to disintegrate before her eyes, and she recoiled, the horror on her face only getting worse. Then a voice rang out, seeming to come from everywhere, yet nowhere.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“Xgta iqqf, xgta iqqf kpfggf. Qp vq vjg pgzv vguv, pqy. Dghqtg uqogvjkpi wprngcucpv jcrrgpu.” _(Very good, very good indeed. On to the next test, now. Before something unpleasant happens.)_

June could barely breathe, but looked around as if trying to figure out where Gaster’s voice was coming from, tears in the corners of her eyes threatening to spill over as it dawned on her. He’d just made her fight and use her powers when she’s in no condition to use them _for no reason._ How was beyond her, but she was undoubtedly pissed. But since she couldn’t see him to punch him in his smug face, she settled for shouting a string of obscenities at the ceiling, in the hopes he could hear her. When she finally managed to get her feet under her and calm down a little, she stood again, glaring at the ceiling and ignoring the doorway that just opened up where the…whatever it was that wasn’t actually May had been.

“Before I take your next test…tell me one thing. Is she okay? Have you hurt her in any way?”

“Pq jcto ujcnn eqog vq vjg jwocp ejknf. Uq nqpi cu aqw eqqrgtcvg.” _(No harm shall come to the human child. So long as you cooperate.)_

The tattooed teen gritted her teeth and growled to mask a sigh of relief. As long as it meant she was keeping her sister safe, she’d do whatever Gaster asked. She hated it, but it was the truth. As long as May was at stake…

“I’ll hold you to that, asshole. And if I find out you’ve hurt one hair on her head, I swear to god, I’ll end you so fast, you won’t even realize you’re dead.”

Without waiting for a reply, she squared her shoulders and forged on, stepping through the doorway with a look of determination enough to mow down anything that came her way.

\-------------------------------

When May finally woke up, she yawned and made a soft squeaky noise as she stretched, not quite awake enough yet to realize something wasn’t right. When she looked around, though, it slowly dawned on her. She was still in the cell with the lasers for bars, and her sister nowhere in sight.

“June?” she whispered, her voice tiny and frightened, looking past the beams for any sign of where the older ravenette might be.

“BROTHER! THE MAY IS FINALLY AWAKE!”

“finally! are you alright?”

May started to call out their names, glad to know she wasn’t alone after all, but caught herself, remembering that they didn’t go by their names.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just really tired. Did you see what Gaster did with June? Is she okay?”

“we don’t know. when he knocked you two out, he turned off the lasers for a minute and dragged out your sister. he wasn’t doing anything to her then, but we haven’t seen them since.”

Well, that was less helpful than she hoped. But he was trying, so May kept her concerns to herself, only making a small noise of worry as she curled up to think. She knew most of the layout of the Lab from wandering around Science Sans and the “Nice” Gaster’s Lab. She was certain if she just thought about it hard enough, she’d have an idea where the “Mean” Gaster from this universe would have taken her sister. But after wracking her brain for a few minutes, she didn’t come up with much. Sighing heavily, she leaned back against the wall, hoping that something the boys could tell her would take her mind off it.

“Have you guys thought more about the plan yet? I know it’s kind of a bad idea to talk about it, but we don’t have a lot of options. Especially since June’s not here to help us with telepathy or something.”

“well, we tried to think of other ideas, since he knows about the plan, but so far, we don’t have anything else. plan a is still for me to try to teleport out of the cell and open them the way he does.”

“Okay. Well, if we’re gonna do it, we’d better do it now. As long as he’s busy with June, he’s not watching us, right? If we’re lucky, we can get out of the cells without him noticing. Then we have to find June.”

“RIGHT! BECAUSE WE CANNOT LEAVE YOUR SISTER BEHIND!”

“are you sure about trying the spring now? we don’t have any of the details worked out, and we’re not even sure i can –”

“I know, I know. It’s risky. But June’s my sister. I gotta make sure she’s okay. We can’t… _I_ can’t let anything happen to her. I have to reach her before he does something to her that can’t be undone!”

May couldn’t have hidden the desperation in her voice if she tried. And when there was no immediate response, she thought for a moment Sans might insist they wait.

“alright. i understand. since we’re not sure how my teleporting works, i’ll start by trying to get into your cell. wherever you are, don’t move.”

May called back an affirmative, relieved Sans was willing to cooperate, standing with her back pressed against the wall connecting her cell to the boys’. There was another pause, all of them waiting with baited breath, until May blinked, gasping when Sans appeared in her cell without warning, a look of surprise on his face as well.

“It worked!” she breathed, excitement blossoming on her face as she took a step forward. Sans hadn’t spotted her until she moved, when he took a step back and stared at her. She stopped where she was, surprise back on her features.

“You’re…littler than me…” she blurted without thinking, returning Sans’ stare. He blinked, looking her over more carefully.

“what…are you?”

“Um…I’m human. Does that bother you?”

She hadn’t thought about the fact that the boys had no idea what she looked like, or that they wouldn’t know what a human was, so her appearance might bother them. But the light blue blush across Sans’ cheekbones sent a different signal, the lights of his eyes connecting with her icy-blue hues.

“n-no, not at all! i just…you look…nice? and i don’t know why, but my face is hot…”

May blinked in confusion, processing what he’d said and glancing down at herself. While the outfit she had on was a cute one, it wasn’t anything fancy, and even more perplexing, she was still covered in Ink’s blood. Being covered in gunk and dirt and filth wasn’t her idea of looking nice, so when she looked up at Sans again, the look was one of puzzlement.

“Um…thank you? I think? And as for why your face is hot, it’s because you’re blushing.”

“blushing? what’s that?”

“IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY BROTHER?!”

“No, no. There’s nothing wrong with him. Blushing’s normal, and people blush for a lot of reasons. Like when they’re sick and have a fever, or they’re embarrassed, or…”

“or what?”

Sans’ tone was uneasy at the look of realization on May’s face. Suddenly, she had it figured out. He’d said she looked nice because she’d told them that nice was something that made them happy, and the easy conclusion to draw was that you could call something nice if you liked it.

A blush of her own formed on her cheeks, and she hid shyly behind her hands, masking a giddy little smile. Then she remembered she had to finish her explanation.

“Or when they, um, like someone. Um, for future reference, when you said I looked nice? The word you wanted wasn’t…that. Um. I’ll tell you about it later. Like after we get out of here. First things first, right?”

Sans nodded, focusing.

“r-right. now that we know i can teleport short distances…”

Sans concentrated, and after a second, May blinked and he was on the other side of the laser beams, outside the cells. She ran up to the beams, her excitement returning.

“You did it! You’re out!”

“MAY IS RIGHT, BROTHER! BUT WE MUST HURRY!”

“He’s right. We have no idea how long it’ll take for Gaster to realize you got out so we need to move fast.”

Sans nodded again, this time making one eye glow blue before putting his hand up to the panel next to his and Papyrus’ cell.

“okay, bro. now you!”

Whatever Papyrus was doing, May couldn’t see, but there was the sound of the boys straining, then a cry of surprise and jubilation as the sound of the lasers diminished some.

“How’s it coming?”

“SEE FOR YOURSELF, MAY!” Papyrus cried as he ran around to her cell to see her. She gasped, elation spread wide across her face.

“You’re out! You’re free! Okay, now my turn! Please,” she added, almost forgetting her manners in her excitement. Papyrus nodded, pulling Sans over to the panel next to her cell. Together, their eyes glowing orange and blue respectively, they laid their hands on the panel, and the beams flickered out of existence. May’s eyes went wide, but she bounded out of the cell excitedly, snagging both boys in a big hug before she could stop herself.

“Thanks, you guys! Okay, next step: finding my sister!”

“UM, MAY?”

“Yeah?” she replied, turning back to Papyrus.

“YOU SAID YOU WOULD EXPLAIN WHAT A GIRL WAS WHEN WE GOT OUT OF HERE. BUT…I WISH TO KNOW NOW. ARE YOU A GIRL?”

“Uh, yeah, actually. I am,” she answered, caught off guard by the question. She’d honestly forgotten about that.

“WOWIE! SO DO ALL HUMAN GIRLS LOOK LIKE YOU?”

“Uh, no. But you’ll see what I mean when we find my sister. Speaking of,” she added, getting back on topic, a serious look on her face, “when Gaster dragged her off, did you see which way he went?”

“yeah, he turned that way,” Sans answered, pointing down one end of the hallway that lead away from the cells. May nodded, the determination in her eyes making the sweet little girl look fierce and brave.

“Then that’s the way I’m going. You guys don’t have to follow me –”

“NONSENSE! WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER! WE SHALL NOT ABANDON YOU NOW!”

“yeah. besides, you might need our help, in case you run into him.”

May smiled, touched by their concern for her, then nodded, the fierce look coming back as she turned, steeling herself and leading the boys down the way Sans had pointed. Sneaking down the hallway, May would peer around doorways carefully, checking to see if there was anyone there, and if they’d pose a threat. Any time they found a room with someone else working, May would find a way to sneak past without getting caught, showing the boys how to do the same so they could follow her. When she saw that someone was coming, she grabbed the boys’ hands and dragged them to a hiding spot where the three of them wouldn’t be spotted. When the person passed, she’d pull them along to check the room that person had left. Near the end of the hall, just before a branch in the path, they came across a locked door. May actually recognized this door.

“I think this is Gaster’s office!” she whispered to the boys, stopping.

“you think he might have your sister in there?”

“I doubt it,” she replied, staring up at the door thoughtfully, “But I think he might have stashed something of ours in his office, because I can’t think of where else he’d put them. And me and my sister need them back. But…how do you open a locked door that doesn’t have a doorknob?”

She muttered the last bit to herself, and Sans and Papyrus stood on either side of her, keeping a lookout for anyone coming their way. May just stood there for a bit, staring at the door, thinking. She saw that the door had an electronic panel to open it, like the cells, but this one wasn’t activated by magic. This one had numbers on the controls, and standing there trying to guess the passcode would take far too long, especially given they had no idea how long the code was supposed to be. She shook her head to herself, wishing she knew more about Gaster so she stood a chance at guessing the code. She also wished her sister was with them, instead of keeping Gaster busy. June could melt the door with her fire, or electrocute the panel (or the door, for that matter) and force it to open, or use her super strength to force it open somehow. And assuming she didn’t want to do any of those things, she always had the gift of her temporary powers, like the wind. She could easily find a crack in the doorframe and slide through if she was made of air or water, or she could –

Teleportation. Teleport inside and open the door from the inside. But May shook her head, brushing the thought away with a little huff. Could she ask Sans to do it? Yes. Should she? That was the real question, and she worried about the small skeleton straining himself from using his still developing teleportation so much. No, she wouldn’t ask him to do that unless they ran out of options. No, she could think of something better, she was sure of it. But after wracking her brain for other ideas, she growled in frustration with herself. She had no idea what to do, but she knew she couldn’t just give up on this and wait until later to deal with it. Once they had June, the four of them would be in a rush to leave, since Gaster would no doubt be right on their heels, and she knew coming back to the office to look for their dimension-hopping watches would not be an option then. No, this had to be done now, while they still had the element of surprise on their side. But without other options and stubbornly refusing to ask Sans to teleport inside, May just stared at the door, willing it to open, knowing full well it wasn’t going to work.

Frustrated and desperate, May finally caved to her own temper, letting out a frustrated cry and punching the door. The cry startled both boys, but what surprised all of them was that the metal door caved some under May’s tiny fist, leaving a decent sized dent where she’d hit it. She gasped, staring between the door and her hand. The boys stared too, but the gears of her mind were whirring back to life, processing the new information. Apparently, little May had super strength of her own. And seeing the dent in the door she’d just made…

Her eyes darted up to the control panel as one corner of her lips turned up. She hummed thoughtfully, glancing back down at her hands and flexing her fingers experimentally. Then she stepped over to the panel, balled her hand into a fist again, and swung at the panel, her face scrunching up as she focused on that hit.

The panel crumpled easily around her hand, smashing with almost no resistance, sparks flying out of the now exposed insides of the small machine. May beamed triumphantly, prying her hand free of the outer casing and pulling it off.

“you never mentioned you could do that,” Sans commented in a whisper, his voice somewhere between being scared and in awe of her.

“That’s ‘cause I didn’t know I could,” she answered, somehow keeping the excitement in her voice to a minimum. “At least, not til just now. I told you, I’m still learning about my powers. I don’t know all of what I can do yet. But finding out sure is gonna be interesting!”

Now May gingerly threaded her hand in between the sparking wires and bits, rooting around until she thought she had the motherboard. She remembered June telling her that machines needed those to function, so if the lock to the door didn’t have its motherboard…

She gave the item an experimental tug. Feeling the plastic flex beneath her fingers, she pulled again, harder this time. When the stubborn thing in her hand finally broke free with a loud crack, she fell to the floor, still clutching the plastic bit in her hand. Well, she hadn’t gotten the whole motherboard, but breaking it was just as good, right?

The door slid open until it encountered the dent, where it stopped, fighting the mechanisms trying to open the door. Then it switched gears, closing the door again, which popped back open at the presence of the children still standing before it. Back and forth it went, until May got up from the floor and waited for a minute, watching the cycle. When she had the pattern memorized, she slid through the gap in the opening door, waiting until it shut behind her to hit the door in the same spot on the other side, mostly fixing the dent. This time, the door slid open all the way and stayed open, revealing the boys looking at her with twin looks of awe.

“Come on!” she whispered, waving them inside. “We made so much noise, we’ll have to hurry in here. Hopefully this really is Gaster’s office, and he has our devices in here…”

“IT IS QUITE DARK,” Papyrus noticed when they stepped inside, the closed door plunging the room back into the shadows. “I SHALL GET THE LIGHTS!”

“Thanks, Pa…um, 2-P.”

“OF COURSE, MAY! AFTER ALL, YOU CANNOT LOOK FOR SOMETHING IF YOU CANNOT SEE!”

She smiled at him as he flicked on the lights, bringing the room into focus. Then she started to look around, hoping it wouldn’t take long to find the devices. Her destructive opening of the door was sure to get someone’s attention, which meant they wouldn’t have much time to look before –

And there they were, just sitting on the desk. Well that was easy. Too easy, June’s voice echoed in May’s mind, cautioning the little girl. This thought stilled the small ravenette’s hand as she reached up grab the watches from the desk, confusing Sans and Papyrus.

“those were what you were after? well, what are you waiting for? grab ‘em and lets go.”

“Hang on. Something’s not right. This…this is too easy. Think about it,” she urged, turning to the boys. “You’ve never tried to teleport before – at least, not into spaces you can’t see – and it works not once, but twice. It just so happens that your combined magic opens the cells. Then we happen to find Gaster’s office, and we happen to figure out I have super strength to open the door. The watches just happen to be out in plain sight, ripe for the taking. And not once have alarms gone off and we haven’t been caught by anyone else. Now, some of that really is nothing but luck, but even so, there are parts that just don’t make sense.”

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, MAY?”

“I’m saying…I think he _wanted_ us to try and escape. He _wanted_ us to find the devices. He _wanted_ all this to happen. We’re playing right into his hands!”

“so what do you suggest we do?”

A steely look crossed the girl’s face, her icy eyes sharp and bright as she snatched up the watches.

“We quit playing by his rules. No more sneaking. No more trying not to get caught. And especially no more using our powers and magic. Because that’s what he wants. He wants to see what we can do. So if we don’t give him what he wants, we even the playing field. It’s time we give him a taste of his own medicine.”

May smiled, feeling strong and confident. Then she pushed the watches into the boys’ hands.

“wha-”

“He’ll be expecting me to hold onto them. So I can’t keep them. If we do the opposite of what he’s expecting us to do, it’ll catch him off guard. So follow my lead: everything you think we should be doing, do the opposite!”

The boys nodded, taking a device each and holding on to it tight, leading the way back to the door. May nodded to them as the door slid open, all three stepping into the hallway without looking around for anyone coming. May again turned and started to the end of the hallway, walking out to the branching path before stopping, the boys still in tow.

“Hmm…left or right…first instinct?”

“left.”

“LEFT!”

“Okay then. Right it is. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Section Summary:** Once June finishes fighting the odd amorphous creature, she heads to free May, only to have the little girl killed right before her eyes. Or so she thinks. As it turns out, it wasn't really May, and the danger to the girl hadn't been real, either. Gaster was only testing her to see what she could do. June is immediately enraged, but once she calms, she makes Gaster give his word that nothing will happen to her sister as long as she cooperates. When he agrees, June moves on to the next test, determined to do whatever it took to keep her sister safe...
> 
> Well, not much to say this time around except this chapter is mild compared to what's coming. Hang in there, lovelies. And without further ado, I hope you all enjoyed this one as always, and we'll see you next week for more. -S


	22. Ouch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ROT2 cipher for Gaster's text as always, translations after the text, and **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!_** This chapter contains major character injury, blood, child experimentation/abuse/torture, and strangulation via magic. Please please please _please **please**_ be careful when reading this one, lovelies! It was actually pretty difficult for me personally to get through this chapter when writing it, so as someone who doesn't have any of those triggers, I can't imagine how it would be for anyone who does. Take care of yourselves, lovelies.  
>  Now, as the aforementioned possible triggers are scattered throughout this chapter, I'm going to make this one skippable by summarizing it in the end notes. Oh, and for anyone who actually can read the chapter, Book_Warrior7 was a big help in several areas of this chapter, so if you like it, please be sure to let her know! :D -S

June had been going at it for what she guessed was hours, fighting and fighting and fighting, almost nonstop, Gaster and her own stubborn survival instinct keeping her going. After the first test with the amorphous blob-thing, she had gone through some scenarios with different monsters to fight, all trying to kill her without batting an eye. It took her a while to realize it, but the pain in her arm in the first test had actually been from Gaster injecting her with something, and whatever it was had worn off some time ago, so she knew that none of what she was fighting was real. (That, and the fact that fighting with the monsters hadn’t drawn her Soul out of her was a big clue.) But the wounds were real enough, so she fought back.

Each battle with the emotionless simulated monsters was more difficult than the last, but through sheer adrenaline and rage on her part, she managed to make it through each fight. Until this one. She’d been dodging and running for a while, and that was wearing her out almost as much as all the fighting. No, that was a lie, she thought to herself as the boulder she was sitting behind heated up under the pressure of the flames it was protecting her from. Fighting back would be easier than this, and less of a drain on her powers. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not this time. She knew this one, and though she knew he wasn’t real, that it wasn’t really him…she just couldn’t bring herself to fight the captain of the Royal Guard, Grillby.

And while Gaster had been annoyed at her refusal to fight the not-Grillby before, he was absolutely fed up by now, reaching the end of his patience with her.

“Aqwt tgukuvcpeg ku igvvkpi qp oa ncuv pgtxg, ejknf. K ycu jqrkpi aqw ygtg uq enqug vjg gpf. Dwv K uwrrqug aqw’nn pgxgt igv vjgtg, kh aqw ctg uq jwpi wr qp vjku. Rgtjcru vjg nkvvng qpg yknn dg qh oqtg wug…” _(Your resistance is getting on my last nerve, child. I was hoping you would cooperate longer than this, since you were so close to the end. But I suppose you’ll never get there, if you are so hung up on this. Perhaps the little one will be of more use…)_

June’s head shot up at the mention of her sister, and she gritted her teeth angrily. She hated being manipulated like this – it’s not like he was being subtle about it – but the one thing that could motivate her more than her own survival, more than anyone else’s was May, and he knew it. And it pissed her off.

“No!” she shouted over the roar of the flames, “I’ll do it! I’ll fight! Just…give me a minute! I’m kinda running on fumes, here, dammit!”

And that was true. While she didn’t really want to fight, it was also that she was trying to conserve her strength, because she was already on the verge of exhaustion from overuse of her powers. But since he wasn’t giving her a choice any more…

June finally darted out from behind the rock, ducking for another spot of cover. The one she’d been using was getting too hot for her to safely hide behind any longer…that, and it had begun to melt. Grillby was relentless, and given that he was a fire elemental, that wasn’t really much of a surprise. But it made for a pain in the ass fight if all he did was try and burn her to a crisp. June gave it a moment’s thought, forcing her tired mind to do more than just vainly spin its wheels. What’s the best way to put out a fire? With water, of course, but she didn’t have any on her, and she didn’t have the materials to give herself water powers. Not that she’d trust herself with new powers right now, but that was her getting distracted again. The simulation Grillby was all too ready to remind her of that, as he changed positions without her noticing, the flames erupting from his hands licking her arm and side hungrily. She screamed in pain as her arm received third degree burns before she could make the fire obey her and stop affecting her. Still, she didn’t have it in her to beat the fire elemental at his own game, so she scrambled to her feet and darted for cover again as far from him as she could get.

The pain from the new injury certainly wasn’t helping matters, as her already battered body shook and trembled in protest to any kind of movement. But she had to do something if she didn’t want to end up a smoldering pile of ashes for Gaster sweep up later. She took a shaky breath and held it, trying to make her mind work again.

Water was definitely a no-go. She remembered hearing somewhere that you could put out a fire by smothering it with dirt, but despite the abundance of earth around her, she was certain that he’d just melt it all and keep coming. Damn Grillby for being such a tough bastard, she thought. No, focus. What else? How the hell could you stop a walking wildfire bent on killing you? If he were a candle, she’d just blow out the flames, but since she still refused to try using the wind thing again, and Grillby was a hell of a lot more than just an oversized candle –

Oh, why hadn’t she thought of that before? She didn’t need wind…at least, not the regular kind. It’d only make him stronger. No, what she needed was ice, and enough of it to put him out. The very thought made her heart twinge painfully, and her mental reassurances that it wasn’t the real Grillby, that she was only hurting a simulation, and that she didn’t have a choice didn’t help as much as it should have. Still, as she heard him clanking closer to her hiding spot in his armor, she knew she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She quickly transformed herself to a being of pure ice and stepped out from behind her hiding place, trying to hide the stagger in her step.

“Alright, pal. I’m done playing hide and seek with you. Time to face the music. I just hope you know how to dance,” June added, peeking up at the not-Grillby through her curtain of black bangs, the sinister nature of her smile the only part of the expression to reach her eyes.

On anyone else, this look would have given them pause. This look meant danger for anyone who dared to meet its challenge. This look made people shudder as fear shot through them. But since she turned it on a computer simulation that had no concept of emotions, let alone fear, the not-Grillby just kept walking towards her, unaffected. Worth a try, she figured, before launching into her barrage of unrelenting icy attacks.

With the absolute frozen hell she put him through, going so far as to summon a blizzard in the room with them, it took her all of five minutes to reduce the fire elemental to cinders, his body dissipating in a blur of pixels before her eyes. Then, everything began to blur, and she had to release her power, slipping out of her altered form and falling to her hands and knees. Her whole body felt like a giant bruise, and her vision and head swam dangerously. She knew she’d way overdone it with her powers, but she hadn’t had a choice. Grillby was just too strong for her to take on with as little strength as she had left.

The tattooed teen could swear she heard Gaster huff something in annoyance at her, but she could scarcely hear him, let alone understand what he said. Whatever it was, June shook her head, trying to get up.

“I…I can…s-still…” she slurred out before falling back to the ground with a groan. She had been trying to say she could still fight, that she could survive another round, but no. No, she couldn’t keep going, she couldn’t keep fighting, she just didn’t have the energy or the strength for it, and she knew it. She was too tired and too badly hurt to even get up, no matter how she tried. Then a sigh echoed from all around, and the simulation finally ended, reducing the giant space she was in to a small, grey tiled room.

After a moment, a door slid open and she heard footsteps come closer to her. She didn’t have to be able to see to know who it was, and the fact that he had bothered to come into the room with her meant he thought she wasn’t a threat to him right now. And for once, he was right. She felt the anger boiling within her, trying to give her strength, but it wasn’t enough. She couldn’t hold on to it, and before she could give him more than a dirty look, she collapsed on the floor with a weak grunt.

“Fqp’v iq fakpi qp og lwuv agv, jwocp. K uvknn pggf aqw hqt hwtvjgt vguvkpi,” she heard him mutter softly before her consciousness faded entirely. _(Don’t go dying on me just yet, human. I still need you for further testing.)_

The next thing she knew, she was being carried, only half aware of what was going on, her weariness making her limbs – well, her everything, really – particularly heavy and uncooperative. It took her a minute in this state of barely awareness to realize she was being held off the ground by a set of bony, yet surprisingly strong arms. It took her even longer to realize that the voice filtering through the haze of her senses was Gaster’s.

“Kv uggou K’nn jcxg vq ejcnm vjku qpg wr cu kpeqpenwukxg, cu ujg ycu pqv cv rgcm eqpfkvkqphqt kv. Dwv vjg fcvc yknn ocmg hqt c pkeg eqorctkuqp yjgp ujg fqgu igv dcem qp jgt hggv…” _(It seems I’ll have to chalk this one up as inconclusive, as she was not at peak condition for it. But the data will make for a nice comparison when she does get back on her feet...)_

He seemed to be muttering to himself and hadn’t yet noticed she was awake. Hell, she had barely noticed she was awake, and the only thing she could do before she felt herself slip again was utter a pitiful moan and twitch a little. She felt Gaster stop in surprise, but she was out again before she could catch a reaction.

When she woke up again, June felt Gaster still holding her, but they weren’t moving any more. Instead she heard him click his tongue and hum in satisfaction.

“Kv uggou oa qvjgt gzrgtk ogpv ku iqkpi ygnn. Ngv wu jqrg vjg ejknftgp ctg hctkpi dgvvgt vjcp aqw fkf, jwocp.” _(It seems my other experiment is going well. Let us hope the children are faring better than you did, human.)_

As sluggish as her mind was, at the mention of children, June knew he meant May, Sans, and Papyrus, and she stirred, trying to issue a threat against hurting them. Instead, what came out of her mouth was slurred gibberish. Gaster chuckled, laying her on a cold flat surface, her mostly numb body barely able to recognize that she was laying on something solid.

“Tgncz, ejknf. K fqp’v kpvgpf vq jwtv vjgo. Dwv dghqtg K ugg vq vjgo, K owuv vgpf vq aqwt yqwpfu. K ecp’v jcxg aqw fakpi dghqtg vjg pgzv ugv qh vguv.” _(Relax, child. I don’t intend to hurt them. But before I see to them, I must tend to your wounds. I can’t have you dying before the next set of tests.)_

June tried to roll off the table Gaster had evidently put her on, mumbling what she thought was something close to a statement of resistance. She did little more than twitch and roll her head, her words louder than before, but still unintelligible. Shortly after, as if Gaster had ignored her, she heard a strange noise, reminding her of the whir of hospital machinery, and a panic gripped her. But her body had long since run out of adrenaline to pump into her system, so although her fight or flight response kicked in and she was trying desperately to do either one, she still couldn’t really move beyond jerking her head back and forth. The sudden onset of anxiety and panic caught Gaster’s attention as well, but before he could say or do anything other than notice how strange it was, June fainted, her body unable in such a weakened state to handle the spike in heart rate and blood pressure.

The last time she woke up, she was being carried again, but was again barely conscious, only twitching a little. In her state of extreme disorientation, she was reminded of when she was a little girl, the way her father would carry her to bed if she fell asleep anywhere but her room. Her confused mind told her she wasn’t imagining it, and that the nice father she remembered was back and carrying her to bed just like he used to. And though her body ached, like after she practiced her gymnastics too hard, she found enough strength to slide on hand up to his shirt and nestle herself closer to him, her long thin fingers curling around the fabric in her hand.

“Night, Dad,” she mumbled into his shirt, curling up against him a little more before drifting off again.

\-------------------------------------------

Following after May and 2-P, all 1-S had on his mind was how different humans really were compared to how he was told by Dr. Gaster. This human was about his size, which he was surprised by, especially since the…“sister”…was about the height of Gaster. He didn’t think there were others like him and his brother. He was also still confused on the subject of the “sisters” as May had called them, he wanted to know how they were different. He felt a smile on his face. Another thing he hadn’t expected was how nice she was. He liked that word; “nice.”

May asked him which way they should go now, looking around, he vaguely recognized walking this way for when he met 2-p the first time.

“i remember this way. i came from this hall and went right, so either straight or left.”

May nodded, looking a little unsure of herself, but flashed him this beaming, confident smile anyway. This gave him an odd, warm feeling in his Soul, a similar one to the one he got when he and 2-P glowed together. He was startled out of his head by 2-P loudly stating that left was the way they should go, and with a nod to May, they all dashed straight.

He never thought he’d be getting out of this place, he and his brother had a chance to be free, it made him want to make the same noise 2-P had made in the cell. What had May called it again? Laughter? He remembered she made that noise a lot, but it was much higher pitched. He liked it, though. He was so lost in thought that he ran into 2-P when he stopped suddenly. 2-P turned around and quickly apologized for it.

\--------------------------------------------

“I AM SORRY FOR THE STOP, BUT IT SEEMS WE HAVE HIT A WALL.” He pointed to the wall in question May was glaring at.

“It’s called a dead end,” she sighed, hands on her hips, “and it means we’ll have… to…” She trailed off quickly, paling as she stared at something behind them. The boys spun around and then got into a defensive formation in front of May, realizing it was Gaster who now blocked them off from freedom.

“Eqpitcvwncvkqpu, aqw cnn ocfg kv hctvjgt vjcp K jcf jqrgf. Vjg vcevke aqw vjqwijv wr, nkvvng iktn, ycu xgta ygnn fqpg, cpf rtqdcdna eqwnf jcxg iqvvgp aqw qwv qh jgtg kh aqw jcf pqv rcuug vjg gngxcvqt ugxgtcn vkogu. Dwv dqau, aqw ctg qwv qh aqwt egnn ykvjqwv rgtokuukqp, yjkej ogcpu aqw _dqvj_ igv c rwpkujogpv vjku vkog.” _(Congratulations, you all made it farther than I had hoped. The tactic you thought up, little girl, was very well done, and probably could have gotten you all out of here if you had not passed the elevator several times. But boys, you are out of your cell without permission, which means you_ both _get a punishment this time.)_

Gaster’s voice started off honestly proud, but slowly grew darker as he continued, until he was downright threatening them, starting to walk calmly towards the little group. The boys were tense, each beginning to glow with magic. May wanted to say that she could protect them, that if it came down to it, her shield would stop his attacks, but given that she was still figuring out all of what she could do, she didn’t know how much help she could really be. And they were still so young, younger than her, if she had to guess from their sizes, which meant…were they as strong as the other Sanses and Papyruses? Did they even know how to use their powers? A little voice in her head doubted that they did. But whatever was about to happen, she knew she couldn’t let this Gaster hurt them. They had been through enough, and she was tired of people getting hurt because of her. May took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the boys, knowing what she had to do.

“Stop it, Gaster. I know you don’t want to be doing this. I know some part of you is still good, despite all the bad stuff you’ve done. And even though I don’t know what made you do all this horrible stuff, I…I know I can’t just stand back and do nothing. I’m not the kid that stays on the sidelines while everyone else does her fighting for her. So I’ll make you a deal. Since this was my fault, I’ll take the punishment. I’ll let you do whatever you want to me, no complaints…as long as you leave them alone.”

She didn’t know what the punishment would be like, but right then, standing up for the boys, even though it meant she would be hurt in return…she didn’t care. Besides, the little voice helpfully called, if he hurt her, June would rain down hellfire if she got the chance. The little girl had seen the teen do worse to someone for trying to mug them on the street before. For now, it was safer to bet that her going would be less painful than anything he’d do to the boys. They just stood behind her in shocked silence until they heard her deal with Gaster.

“may, no! you can’t! who knows what he’ll do to you! he does this to us all the time! just let it be!”

“AS MUCH AS I HATE IT, MY BROTHER IS RIGHT! LET US AT LEAST TRY TO –”

“No,” May said, her voice firm, but not sharp. “I…I don’t want to fight. It’ll only make things worse. I know this was the whole reason we didn’t split up, but believe me when I say this is better for everyone. I hate to have to say it, but it’s the truth. You know what they say. You win some, you lose some. This time, we lost. But that doesn’t mean you guys deserve to get hurt because I encouraged you to break the rules. I’m just sorry I let you down.”

The two skeleton children stepped forward, each taking one of May’s hands and giving it a gentle squeeze, their magic slipping away, but still eyeing Gaster carefully, May having turned her back to him.

“you didn’t let us down. i… _we_ …just wish you’d let us fight for you.”

“AGAIN, MY BROTHER IS RIGHT. DO NOT THINK YOU ARE THE ONE WHO FAILED US.”

May looked up at them through her lashes, giving them a weak, but still sweet and sincere smile, squeezing their hands back. In truth, though she knew she was doing the right thing, she had started to lose her courage as she’d talked. But having them show her that they still cared gave her strength, and when she faced Gaster again, she stood with pride, the fire of her conviction burning bright in her eyes.

Gaster, for his part, had been standing there in silence, just watching. What surprised the kids was how shaken he looked. But he quickly regained his composure, fixing them with a bored expression.

“Cpf kh K ejqqug pqv vq rnca cnqpi, nkvvng jwocp? Yjcv yqwnf aqw fq, joo?” _(And if I choose not to play along, little human? What would you do, hmm?)_

May narrowed her eyes sharply, giving the ice in her eyes a very real bite.

“Then I’ll do everything in my power to make you miserable. I’ll find ways even you’ve never thought of to make it so bad, you’ll wish you’d never met me or my sister. And that’s not a threat, Gaster. That’s a promise. So have we got a deal or not?”

May could see him struggle to keep a blank face at her words, something about what she said clearly having affected him. But she managed to keep her fierce expression on her face, despite her own surprise at seeing him falter. Then his expression twisted into something between arrogance and indifference.

“Xgta ygnn, ejknf. Aqw jcxg c fgcn.” _(Very well, child. You have a deal.)_

May nodded, taking the boys’ hands as they all followed Gaster back to the cells. She kept her head down for the most part, still feeling guilty about getting them so close to freedom, then helping Gaster snatch it away again. But from time to time, she squeezed their hands gently as a reminder of why she had agreed to this in the first place, casting encouraging smiles their way. They would smile weakly back, and when they reached the cells, the boys even hesitated to go back into theirs. But she gave both of them what she hoped was a reassuring hug before Gaster pushed them both back into their cell and locked it behind them. He then put a hand on her shoulder as she waved to the boys, turning her away from the cell she shared with her sister. He didn’t turn her fast enough for her not to notice that the cell was locked again, and as he lead the little girl away, she craned her neck to see if June was inside.

Gaster gave May a small shove in the right direction, making her stumble a bit. She glared at him, but obeyed the clear instruction, walking ahead of him as he gave her directions on where to go. More than once, she was tempted to try running away from him, but she knew if she gave him any trouble he’d more than likely hurt the boys in retaliation. So she’d just grit her teeth at herself and push on. When they finally got to where Gaster wanted, he slid past her to enter the room, the ravenette shuffling along behind him. For a minute, he just wandered about the room, getting something set up. Then he flicked his hand at her, picking her up with his blue magic and setting her back down on a metal table she’d noticed before. He then had her lay down as he strapped her to the table, sending a surge of panic through her that she had to resist. Once he had her exactly as he wanted her, Gaster pulled a small table closer to himself, picking up a small metal…something…out of the assortment on the table. Whatever it was, it looked like something she’d expect to see at a doctor’s office.

“W-what are you going to do?” she asked, frightened enough for her voice to tremble slightly. If she wasn’t so scared, she’d hate the fact that all her earlier strength and confidence had drained away so easily.

“Uqogvjkpi vjg qnfgt qpg ujqygf og gctnkgt jcu og ewtkqwu. K’f nkmg vq ugg kh vjg ucog vjkpi crrnkgu vq aqw.” _(Something the older one showed me earlier has me curious. I’d like to see if the same thing applies to you.)_

With that, Gaster pulled her Soul out of her, and she blinked away the strange sensation that always accompanied the action. Looking at Gaster, though, as he sucked in an almost inaudible gasp while he stared at her Soul, she was more than a little confused by his expression of fascination. She glanced at the little heart floating above her chest – glowing the same bright and vibrant combination of lively green and rich purple as the last time she’d seen it – then shifted her gaze to Gaster.

“What? Is…is something wrong with it?”

May wasn’t really self-conscious of her Soul. The importance of color in a Soul had been explained to the girls before, and she liked her twin colors. Green for kindness, representing her unwavering passion to help others, no matter the cost to herself. Purple for perseverance, the strength of heart and character she was only now learning she possessed. The colors complimented each other perfectly, and knowing what the colors meant made her proud. She mostly asked because she knew monsters saw Souls differently than humans did. The sound of her voice, so innocent and sweet, seemed to pull Gaster back to reality, drawing his eyes from her Soul to her face. He quickly rearranged his expression to feign only mild interest.

“Ytqpi ykvj kv? Pq, ejknf. Kp hcev, aqwtu ku qpg qh vjg rwtguv Uqwnu K’xg gxgt jcf vjg rtkxkngig vq gpeqwpvgt. Dwv hqt dqvj qh aqw vq jcxg vyq eqnqtu kp aqwt Uqwn…ctg cnn jwocpu nkmg vjg vyq qh aqw?” _(Wrong with it? No, child. In fact, yours is one of the purest Souls I’ve ever had the privilege to encounter. But for both of you to have two colors in your Soul... Are all humans like the two of you?)_ Gaster poked the floating heart with the metal thing he was holding. It wasn’t sharp, but it was cold, and it sent a chill through her whole body when it touched her Soul.

“N-no,” she gasped, shivering and trying instinctively to move away from the instrument. “Not all humans can do what we can.”

“Rngcug gzrnckp.” _(Please explain.)_ Gaster put down the item, picking up another one and pressing it gently against the brightly glowing heart until one of the nearby machines beeped.

“Well, we’ve tried to do research, but we’ve never found another human who can do even half of the stuff my sister can do. You were experimenting on her, you outta know what I’m talking about,” she added darkly, before huffing a breath to get her mind back on track. “Anyway, for a long time, we thought I was normal, too. But then all this stuff happened, and…we found out we were wrong. I’m not as strong as my sister – though you probably already knew that – but I’m like her. And that has something to do with that fact that our Souls have two colors instead of one. Before we found out I’m like June, my Soul only had one color, like I was normal. But when we found out, it changed to having two. So that’s important somehow.”

“Cpf ctg aqw cyctg qh yjcv vjg eqnqtu ogcp?” _(And are you aware of what the colors mean?)_ Now he looked between the girl and the screen of the machine that beeped, studying it.

“Yes. Green is kindness, and purple is perseverance. And since you saw June’s Soul, that means you saw her colors, too. Blue for integrity, and orange for bravery. If you ask me, though, one of her colors should be red, for determination. She’s so stubborn, after all!” May couldn’t help sharing that bit, a giggle escaping her, despite her rather grim circumstances. At this noise, Gaster quickly turned away and looked at the screen of the machine that beeped, gripping the edges fairly tightly as he read the information before reaching for something out of her view.

“K mpqy yjcv ctg tghgttkpi vq, dwv ujg ku yjcv ujg ku. Lwuv cu kv ku c iqqf vjkpi vjcv aqw ctg cu aqw ctg; kv oca jgnr aqw uwtxkxe vjku.” _(I know what you are referring to, but she is what she is. Just as it is a good thing that you are as you are; it may help you survive this.)_

All humor left May as she paled at his words, fear gripping her once more.

“W-what d’you-” May cut off with a sharp cry, opening an eye a crack to watch as the claw that she hadn’t seen came down, grasped her Soul, and tried to move it, but it refused to budge. It pulled a little more, seeing if the Soul would give way, but still nothing happened. She could hear Gaster make a noise of some kind, and then he started talking in a calculated and analytical tone.

“Aqw jcxg c hcktna jkij JR eqwpv, vjqwij ikxgp aqw ctg c jwocp, kv yqwnf dg qff kh kv ygtg pqv. Dwv aqwt FH ku owej nqygt vjcp K gzrgevgf, yjkng aqwt CV ku, qh eqwtug, nqy. Aqwt Uqwn ku cpejqtgf vq vjg rqkpv qh gpvta, yjkej ku wpfgtuvcpfcdng. Pqy ngv’u vta vjku.” _(You have a fairly high HP count, though given that you are a human, it would be odd if it were not. But your DF is much lower than I expected, while your AT is, of course, low. Your Soul is anchored to the point of entry, which is understandable. Now let’s try this.)_

May had barely recovered from the shock of the first test before he materialized a bone and threw it at her exposed Soul. She felt the attack all the way through her body, every part of her wracked with a sharp pain before receding into a dull ache. She also felt something warm and sticky slide down her face, and saw Gaster reaching out for her. She flinched away, but that hardly stopped him from swiping a finger bone along her cheek and, much to her horror, pulling away with red on its tip.

“Gaster, stop! Please!”

She cried out as another bone struck her Soul, Gaster only bothering to change the angle this time. She felt blood oozing down along a new injury the blow had caused.

“This isn’t right! You have to stop this!”

Another sharp attack sliced through her Soul, drawing another shriek from her. She panted, tears freefalling down her cheeks. If she could just reason with him…

“I know you, Gaster! You-you can be better than this! No, you _are_ better than this! I’ve seen it! P-please, just listen to me!”

Slice. Screaming dissolving into pained sobbing. Her blood began to splatter on the floor. Still, she persisted.

“Please! _Please,_ just _stop!_ It-it _hurts!_ I-I can’t – _please!_ ”

By now, her voice had faded, the combination of the screaming, crying, and talking taking its toll on her throat. Yet though it all, Gaster remained unmoved, attacking again and again. But each attack came slower than the last, the hesitation between her words and his action growing longer and longer. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was reaching him, or because he wanted to draw out her pain, but she didn’t care. Now she was just grasping at straws, hoping against hope he would stop. But it seemed Gaster had other ideas.

May was still rambling, she couldn’t shut up if she tried, she just needed him to stop. But, when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, she saw him raise a hand enclosed in a dark blue magic and clenched it into a fist just as her Soul turned blue. Suddenly she started feeling a tightness, not specifically anywhere, but definitely in her Soul. And no amount of fidgeting would ease it, it just kept getting worse. She tried to scream but all that came out was a surprised squeak before she realized she couldn’t breathe.

The pressure inside her was building, she could feel herself starting to get dizzy, which just made her even more panicked as she didn’t know how far Gaster would go if she couldn’t retaliate or talk him out of it. Since she couldn’t vocalize her pleas she tried mouthing them. Until a ringing started up in her ears, distracting her enough to let out another breath of precious air, deepening the light-headedness she had. All this time, she never broke eye contact, her icy hues begging him to stop. She watched as, just when she was about to pass out, he finally released her. Even still strapped down to the table, her tiny body was racked with violent shudders as she choked, gulping down as much fresh air as she could get.

Gaster let his hand fall, seeming a little shaken by May’s actions, and after a moment of thought, said, “K vjkpm kv ku dgvvgt vq rcvej aqw wr cpf vcmg aqw dcem vq aqwt egnn. Vjcv ku gpqwij hqt vqfca.” _(I think it is better to patch you up and take you back to your cell. That is enough for today.)_

And with that, he grabbed a roll of gauze and started to work on her before taking her back. She just let him, guilt stinging almost as much as her wounds every time she couldn’t help flinching away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We catch up with June after she has gone through several hours of rigorous simulated battles with various monsters of the Underground. And though the monsters she's fighting aren't real, the injuries she receives from them are, so she presses on. However, she finds herself hesitating over having to fight a computer-generated version of Grillby when he was Captain of the Royal Guard. Low on power, energy, and ideas, she gets some third-degree burns from the fake fire elemental before she tries to use her control over ice to cool him off. It works, but he proved too strong for her in her weakened state, as she collapses shortly after defeating the simulated Grillby. June wakes up a few times after that, but falls unconscious again...the last time she does, however, she mistakes him for her father.  
> The POV shifts to Sans - or 1-S, as he and his brother know him - as he, Papyrus (or 2-P) and May are travelling down the hallways of the Lab. Once the POV shifts back over May, Gaster discovers them and warns the boys they are both due for punishment. Not having that, May stepped forward and struck a deal with the scientist, allowing him to punish her in the boys' place. The two skeleton children protest, but May calms them, and Gaster agrees to the deal. Once Sans and Papyrus are back in their cell, Gaster takes May to run some experiments on her Soul - starting by trying to see how far it would move from her. (It doesn't.) He then proceeds to test how her Soul reacts to being attacked, throwing bone attack after bone attack at it until she is begging and pleading for him to stop, reasoning with him that she knows he can be better than that. Whether he was enraged from this or just desperate to silence her isn't clear to her, but the next thing she knows, he has wrapped his blue magic around her Soul and is choking her. He ticks her health down to almost nothing this way, but she doesn't break eye contact with him until he releases her. Crying and struggling for air, she can't help but flinch as Gaster attempts to heal her wounds and leads her back to the cell she shares with her sister.
> 
> Whew! What a rough chapter...now, the summary misses a few points of dialogue and minor events that will be referenced in the next couple chapters, but I had to leave them out this time, as the details didn't flow with the summary. However, they aren't anything earth-shattering in importance, so I wouldn't worry about it too much, guys. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one, and as always, we'll see you next week for more. -S


	23. The Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ROT2 cipher for Gaster and translations after the text as usual, and **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!_** This chapter contains blood, and quite a bit of it this time. It's not too descriptive (because I'm squeamish myself), but there's more blood in this chapter than in others. But, since there's too much that's important to the story and the characters to skip the entire chapter this time, I'll mark the spots where the blood is specifically mentioned and leave summaries in the end notes. -S

When June started to come around, her whole body throbbed with a dull ache, and it took her a minute to remember where she was and why she was there. Then she remembered her sister. Despite the protests of her tired body, she scrambled to sit up, looking around the small cell for the little girl. Being the only other person in the cell, she wasn’t hard to spot, but June knew something was wrong the second her eyes landed on May.

“May?” she croaked, her voice thick and distorted from sleep and lack of use. The little girl’s head jerked up in response, her face still wet with the tears she’d just shed. June’s expression became an unreadable mess of emotions as she crawled closer.

“J-J-June…”

Fresh tears stained May’s freckled cheeks, and she flung herself forward, latching on to the older ravenette fiercely and bawling. June felt raw anger boiling within her, but she just clenched her jaw and curled around the smaller girl, her own loose bandages coming undone as she moved. She chose to remain calm, or at least act like it, until she knew just how bad she was allowed to get.

“What…what did he do to you, baby girl?” she whispered into her sister’s hair. For a while, May didn’t answer, just sobbed into her sister, but when June fingers brushed the bandages around the smaller girl’s head, she stiffened.

“I-it…he…” May finally hiccupped into June’s shoulder, “H-he pulled my Soul out a-and ran experiments on it. I-I let him, because h-he was gonna hurt the boys if I didn’t. He attacked me, and…a-and…”

June shushed the girl, gently stroking her hair. But as comforting as her presence may have been, inside, she was seething, her anger only getting worse. Gritting her teeth at herself, June pulled back from her crying sister, straining not to let her anger color her vibrant green eyes.

“I need you to let me see them. If his sh…crappy job with me is any indicator,” she added, gesturing to her own mostly healed, yet poorly wrapped wounds, “then I’ll need to take care of yours myself.”

May’s eyes widened and she pawed at her eyes, wincing slightly at the motion from the gauze around her arms.

“A-are you okay enough to do that? You were out for so long…”

“Don’t worry about me, May. I can handle it. Just let me look.”

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

The younger ravenette nodded slowly and started unwrapping her bandages, starting with the one on her head. By the time she was done, the only thing keeping June from doing something stupid instead of focusing on her task was the bit of meditation she had learned to try and control her monstrous temper. June took in the sorry sight that was her sister, then closed her eyes to collect herself before reaching out for May again. It sobered her to see that the wounds were still bleeding.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“I’m not sure if this is gonna help or not, since the damage was done indirectly via your Soul, but I’m gonna try to heal you. Stop me if…well, god forbid if something goes wrong,” the teen sighed, running a hand through her hair before firing up her healing and focusing it on May.

To her credit, if something was wrong, May didn’t let on, letting June try to heal her with a scrunched up expression, somewhere between pain and annoyance. When it was obvious June wasn’t making much headway after a few minutes focusing over the same wound, May forced the older girl’s hands to hover over another injury, much to her sister’s surprise.

“It’s helping, but it’ll just drain you all over again if you keep this up. Just do a little at a time, okay? We can mummy me back up when you’ve done enough.”

“May –”

“Don’t. Just…just humor me, okay?”

June normally would have argued, but the smaller girl was right. If she kept this up, she’d pass out before healing all of May’s injuries. Clearly her healing didn’t work as well on physical damage done by wounding the Soul. May would have to tell her sister when to move on from one injury to the next, but they eventually got through them all, and rewrapped her injuries, June grimacing and fussing over the younger girl the whole time. When they had fussed and bickered enough, June finally left May alone, feeling her anger beginning its return. But she chose not to dwell on it long, making herself focus on something else.

“You said he’d have hurt the boys if you hadn’t stepped in. What did you mean? Are they alright?”

“WE ARE FINE! THANK YOU, MAY’S SISTER!”

“we’re both more worried about you two. is may okay?”

June hesitated, but beat her sister to the punch.

“Okay is a relative term.”

“I’ll be fine. It’ll take time, but he didn’t do any damage that won’t heal,” May followed up quickly, a soothing tone in her voice. But this just caused June’s anger to get worse. How had she not flown into a blind rage again?

“you should have let us fight him. we could have protected you.”

Sans’ voice was strained, and it’s easy for June to hear the guilt he’s trying to bury. He blamed himself for May getting hurt, and if it were anyone else, June would have been inclined to agree. She could even relate, feeling in some way that it was her fault as well for not protecting her sister better. But these feelings were pushed aside in the wake of her anger.

June had stopped listening as May tried to comfort the boys, the latent rage making her begin to tremble slightly. No, neither herself nor the boys were to blame. Only one person was responsible, and he’d given her his word that nothing would happen to May as long as June cooperated. She hadn’t had a choice but to take him on his word, but even so, he had lied to her. Betrayed her. Beaten her down until she collapsed from exhaustion, then went behind her back and _hurt her little sister._

June’s blood was boiling so loud in her own ears, she couldn’t even hear May trying to get her attention. She had warned him. She flat out told him that if he went back on his word, she would take action against him. And though he may have been fine to lie to her, she was not the kind of girl to go back on her word. When she said something, she meant it. And, as she felt something snap within her and her body finally stilled, she was about to prove it.

“June?” May called, her voice small and unsure, finally reaching her sister’s ears. One second, she looked like she was seething with rage, angrier than she’d ever been before, her entire body shaking. The next, she was terrifyingly still and calm, blood-red lips pressed into a tight line.

“May,” she responded, her voice just as eerily calm as the rest of her. It was too calm, too even. June should be…the little girl didn’t know what to think of to compare to June on a rampage, but this wasn’t it.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“I don’t have anything else to use for a new power. So would you mind if I used some of your blood as ink?”

May had to resist the urge to recoil in horror at the thought. But she knew June. No matter what she may be thinking, the older ravenette would never risk hurting her sister to get what she wanted. She was only asking to use what wasn’t trapped by May’s bandages, which wasn’t much to begin with. Whatever June had in mind, it was going to have to be small and devoid of detail, she knew that much.

Normally, May would have said no, that was gross, and she should find some other way to get what she needed. She would have questioned what her sister was thinking. But normally, June would never have suggested it in the first place, and May knew that. So she swallowed the disgusted feeling in the back of her throat and nodded, extending her arms towards the taller girl. June scooted closer and gently swiped at the blood left on May’s arms, holding out one of her own and starting to draw with one stained fingertip.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“What are you gonna do?” she finally asked, trying to get her face to match the blank and neutral expression June’s had. When June finished touching up the design, she stood, her fists clenched so hard, her knuckles were white, and May was a little worried she would hurt herself.

“Oh, nothing much,” the teen answered, keeping her head lowered, the calm and casual tone punctuated by the terrifying air she gave off. “Gaster and I are just going to have a friendly little chat. Face to face. On why you never. _Ever._ Cross a Skies girl.”

Yeah, it sounded corny, but May knew she was right. It was well known history around their hometown that for generations, the women of the Skies family were fighters with big tempers. Even the ones who married into the family and hadn’t started out that way eventually came to be just like all the other Skies women. The girls had seen that firsthand with their own meek, timid, soft-spoken mother. The last time the sisters had seen their mother, she’d had a hand locked on May’s shoulder in an iron grip, a look close to smug and spiteful on her face as she regarded June after the verdict had been read in court. Though the three women were all that remained of the Skies clan, each one was a force of nature in her own right. May’s eyes widened and she staggered to her feet as June lifted her head and stretched her hand out towards the laser beams confining them to their cell, making the mark on her arm visible.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

Focusing the powerful current of energy running through her now first into the bloody drawing on her arm, then to the lightbulb on her shoulder, she commanded the beams to shut down. At first, the magic running them – Gaster’s magic – resisted, but June’s own power ran deeper than his now. Controlling the technology around his magic, she had it run an override sequence, and once done, the magically controlled beams bowed to her will, flickering out of existence. She lowered her arm and stepped out of the cell, looking right up at the camera.

May stared at her sister as she joined her outside the cell. June had accidentally opened all the cells, not just theirs. That kind of feat would normally leave her a tiny bit out of breath and ready to rest for a few minutes. Yet June wasn’t fazed at all, not even breaking a sweat. May already knew why, and the implications honestly scared her.

Because on June’s arm, in May’s blood, was a small infinity symbol.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“I’m coming for you, bub. You’re not gonna stop me. But it’ll be fun to see you try,” June growled, her face twisted into something downright evil. The teen then turned, her expression softening when she looked at May and the boys, the two skeletons only now coming out of their cell to see her.

“And _we_ are getting the fuck out of this hell hole. All of us,” she added, giving the skeleton children a confident smirk. They stared up at her, a combination of awe and fear in their eyes. She looked back at her sister, her sharp eyes focused and unwavering.

“I don’t know my way around like you do. Can you guide me?”

May hesitated, but nodded, her own pale expression transforming to one of courage.

“There’s just one thing I have to check on first.”

June nodded to the little girl to go ahead. She could wait. May flashed the older ravenette a grateful smile, then stepped over to the boys, drawing their wide eyes back down to her.

“First off, I have to know: are you guys okay?”

“WE…WE ARE FINE,” Papyrus replied in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. Sans nodded in agreement with his brother, distracted by May’s bandages.

“there are so many…”

“It’s okay. He would have done worse to you if I’d let him.”

“but we could have –”

“Stop blaming yourself for five minutes, okay? I need you guys to focus. You know this place even better than I do. I’ll need your help to guide June to Gaster. Will you help?”

“OF COURSE!!”

“without question.”

“Good,” May nodded resolutely, then sighed. “Now the second thing I was worried about…the things I gave you…did he find them?”

The boys grinned at May proudly, Sans producing one of the girls’ devices from inside his skull. Papyrus pulled the other from his ribcage. Both held them out for the girls, much to their surprise.

“hard to find something he doesn’t know we have.”

“AGREED! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!”

May grinned right back at them, giggling happily and pulling them both into a big hug.

“I knew you guys wouldn’t let me down! Thanks! We both totally owe you! Oh, do you think you can hold onto them a little longer? Just in case?”

Both skeletons nodded, gripping the watches tight in their hands. May took their free hands in hers, giving them a warm and grateful smile. She then turned back to June.

“Okay. We’re ready.”

The tall teen nodded, then gestured ahead of her. The three children darted forward, June right on their heels as they made their way towards Gaster’s office. A handful of times, the kids paused at doorways, thinking there were people inside the rooms they passed. June would fearlessly step into the room, and more often than not, find that either the room was unoccupied and had speakers playing, or there were holograms roaming around the room, all of it still set up from the kids’ previous escape attempt.

The couple times it turned out there was someone in the room, June would use her telepathy to put them to sleep before motioning the kids onward. While she had no way of knowing if anyone else knew what Gaster was doing, she couldn’t run the risk of someone else being in on it and helping him.

When they got close to Gaster’s office, June motioned the children to stay behind her. If he was waiting for them, she needed to be front and center to counter whatever ambush he had planned. But May had other ideas.

“Looks like he fixed the panel on the door. My guess is, he’s locked himself in there, or got something ready that he’s locked up. I’ll open the door. June, be ready for whatever he’s gonna throw, alright?”

May’s commanding tone despite her whispered volume threw her sister, who blinked and stared before realizing the younger girl was drawing back to punch the control panel next to the door.

“May, wait, that’s not –”

Too late. The little girl swung, her fist colliding with the controls, the outside panel instantly curling up around her small hand on impact. Since they weren’t worried about making too much noise and attracting attention, May had thrown her all into the punch, her hand smashing through more of the inner workings this time, protected by the outer shell of the panel. As May retracted her fist and began prying off the broken pieces of the door controls, June openly gaped at her sister.

“When the hell did you get super strength?!” she hissed, staying where the door wouldn’t recognize there was anyone waiting for it to open. May stood far enough off to the side that her presence wasn’t noticed either, glancing up as she worked on freeing her hand from the outer casing.

“Oh, I didn’t mention it? Right, I never got to tell you about us getting out while he was busy with you. Well, um, that’s when I found out. See the way the door’s all misshapen in that one spot? I got frustrated and punched it, and it sorta dented. But I went back and fixed it. I had to. The door wouldn’t open all the way with such a big dent in it. Oh, come on, you…there we go!” the girl cried gleefully as the casing finally dropped to the floor. She then returned her attention to the panel, examining it.

“Looks like he replaced the motherboard…but I broke it again ‘cause I hit it so hard!”

She let out a girlish giggle, earning her strange looks from all three of them, but the moment was quickly brushed aside by June focusing on the door again.

“We’re _so_ talking about this later. Right now, I need you back over here, out of the path of…whatever is about to come out of that door.”

May nodded carefully maneuvering so the door wouldn’t open as she passed it, going to stand behind June again. The teen braced herself before leaping in front of the door, it hissing open as soon as it registered someone there. Then June felt a sudden shift in the air, something inside crackling with energy. Something large and skull-like, with glowing eyes. The teen’s green hues went wide.

“ _Shit!_ ” she shouted, barely diving out of the way in time to avoid being disintegrated by the blaster’s beam, her Soul tugging free of her chest with ease and bouncing on the floor beside her. May gasped as her own floated in front of her too, watching in shock as the blaster glided out of Gaster’s office and looked at the four of them, as if regarding who to fire at next. At the same time, a laser fence sprang to life, trapping them in the hallway with the blaster and very little wiggle room. June growled fiercely at the blaster, and it growled back, sounding like distant thunder as it powered up to fire again, deciding to focus its attention on her.

June scrambled out of the way again, the beam rendered harmless by May’s shield, her hands stretched out in front of her to widen the shimmering green surface across all three children. Hissing angrily, June quickly got back to her feet, drawing the blaster’s attention one more time and channeling her energy through the lightbulb again, adapting her power to energy manipulation, rather than her usual electricity or technology manipulation. Then the blaster aimed at her again and fired.

May, for a split second, panicked as she watched her sister vanish in the light of the blast, then held her breath as the light that moved past the older girl began to bend backwards towards her. The three kids stared in shocked silence as they watched the beam of energy be sucked inward until June became visible again, absorbing it. The blaster hovered in the air, seemingly confused by the turn of events. There was a tense second as June just focused the energy, adding her own power to it until her hands flared with her orange and blue magic, the air itself becoming heavy and oppressive. Then her eyes snapped open, her excess magic forking through the air around her face like lightning. She cast her arms out with a mighty roar, throwing the energy back at the blaster, her own magic streaking the beam of light that pulsed from her outstretched hands.

When June lowered her hands, it wasn’t just the blaster that had been destroyed – she had also demolished a good chunk of the visible part of the hallway, taking out some of the laser fence on its own. June, despite having just released a massive amount of energy, was only barely out of breath, and that was from holding it throughout the entirety of her attack. Then she saw something flicker inside the office in her peripheral vision, and she wheeled to face it, preparing another orange magic attack without thinking. But May waved her sister off, realizing the threat was over, as their Souls had sunk back into their chests.

The skeleton children were frozen behind May, staring at what had flickered to life in the absence of the blaster. June glared fiercely at it, but lowered her hands and glanced at the kids.

“It’s not real, guys,” May reassured the boys, slipping her hands back in theirs and squeezing comfortingly. “He’s not really there. It’s another hologram. He can’t hurt you.”

The hologram of Gaster tilted its head curiously, but stared into empty space, losing the impression that he was actually standing in his office waiting for them.

“Kh aqw’tg uggkpi vjku, vjgp aqw iqv rcuv vjcv nkvvng…ugetgv ygcrqp qh okpg. K ecnn kv c Icuvgt Dncuvgt. Pqv xgta etgcvkxg, K mpqy, dwv kv igvu vjg lqd fqpg. Tgictfnguu, aqw ocpcigf vq fghgcv kv uqogjqy, cpf yjkng K’f nkmg vq eqpitcvwncvg aqw qp vjku hgcv, K ecp’v uca K’o uwtrtkugf. Vjg dqau eqwnfp’v jcxg fqpg vjcv qp vjgkt qyp, uq K mpqy aqw jwocpu ctg ykvj vjgo, cpf aqw vyq ctg da hct oqtg kpvtkiwkpi vjcp cpavjkpi K’xg gxgt hqwpf ykvj vjg dqau. Aqwt Uvcvu cnqpg ctg yqtvj c iqqf dkv qh kpvgtguv, gurgekcnna chvgt tgxkgykpi vjg hqqvcig qh vjg guecrg gzrgtkogpv ykvj vjg nkvvng jwocp cpf vjg dqau.” _(If you’re seeing this, then you got past that little... secret weapon of mine. I call it a Gaster Blaster. Not very creative, I know, but it gets the job done. Regardless, you managed to defeat it somehow, and while I’d like to congratulate you on this feat, I can’t say I’m surprised. The boys couldn’t have done that on their own, so I know you humans are there with them, and you two are by far more intriguing than anything I’ve ever found with the boys. Your Stats alone are worth a good bit of interest, especially after reviewing the footage of the escape experiment with the little human and the boys.)_

“Our Stats?” May wondered aloud, tilting her head a little. “Is he talking about…?” But as she trailed off, the holo-Gaster continued.

“K yqp'v cuuwog vjcv yjqgxgt gzrnckpgf aqwt Uqwn eqnqtu vq aqw yqwnf jcxg jcf vjg hqtgukijv vq gzrnckp cpavjkpi cdqwv aqwt Uvcvu, uq K'nn gzrnckp kv vq aqw. Aqwt Uvcvu kpenwfg aqwt cvvcem; fghgpug; jkv rqkpvu qt jgcnvj; cpf NQXG, cnn cddtgxkcvgf cu CV; FH; JR; cpf NX. Yjgp ejgemgf, kv cnuq ogpvkqpu aqwt GZR. Vjg qpna qpgu qwv qh cnn qh vjcv hqt aqw vyq vjcv ctgp'v ugnh-gzrncpcvqta ctg vjg eqpegrvu qh NQXG cpf GZR. Aqwt GZR ogcpu aqwt Gzgewvkqp Rqkpvu, yjkej aqw qpna igv htqo mknnkpi. NQXG ku Ngxgn qh Xkqngpeg, yjkej ogcuwtgu jqy gcua kv ku hqt aqw vq jcto qvjgtu. Aqwt NQXG tckugu vjg oqtg aqw mknn.” _(I won’t assume that whoever explained your Soul colors to you would have had the foresight to explain anything about your Stats, so I’ll explain it to you. Your Stats include your attack; defense; hit points or health; and LOVE, all abbreviated as AT; DF; HP; and LV. When checked, it also mentions your EXP. The only ones out of all of that for you two that aren’t self-explanatory are the concepts of LOVE and EXP. Your EXP means your Execution Points, which you only get from killing. LOVE is Level of Violence, which measures how easy it is for you to harm others. Your LOVE raises the more you kill.)_

He paused, clearly expecting them to have some sort of reaction. The horrified looks on their faces were reaction enough.

“Kpvgtguvkpina gpqwij, gxgtaqpg'u NX. uvctvu qwv cv qpg, uq kh aqwt tgcevkqpu ctg yjcv K yqwnf gzrgev vjgo vq dg, fqp'v dg cnctogf yjgp K vgnn aqw vjg nkvvng qpg'u NX. ku cv qpg. Jqpguvna, K ecp'v uca K'o uwtrtkugf da vjku. Chvgt qdugtxkpi jgt dgjcxkqt, ujg tgcnna fqgu uggo cduqnwvgna jctonguu. Kpecrcdng qh jwtvkpi cpavjkpi qt cpaqpg kh ujg vtkgf. Yjcv kpvtkiwgu og cdqwv jgt Uvcvu ku vjcv, fgurkvg jgt NX. dgkpi qpna qpg, jgt JR ku jkijgt vjcp K ycu gzrgevkpi htqo c jwocp, ukvvkpi cv c uwtrtkukpi hkhva. Gxgp oqtg ewtkqwu, fgurkvg vjg kpjgtgpv gpjcpegf rjaukecn uvtgpivj, jgt CV ku qpna vyq. Cnqpi vjcv ucog nkpg, jgt FH ku jkijgt vjcp jgt CV, cv hqwt. Cu ujg ku c itggp Uqwn, vjku kup'v vqvcnna wpgzrgevgf, dwv vjg ukorng hcev vjcv dqvj cvvtkdwvgu ctg uq nqy ku qff. Dwv K fkitguu.” _(Interestingly enough, everyone’s LV. starts out at one, so if your reactions are what I would expect them to be, don’t be alarmed when I tell you the little one’s LV. is at one. Honestly, I can’t say I’m surprised by this. After observing her behavior, she really does seem absolutely harmless. Incapable of hurting anything or anyone if she tried. What intrigues me about her Stats is that, despite her LV. being only one, her HP is higher than I was expecting from a human, sitting at a surprising fifty. Even more curious, despite the inherent enhanced physical strength, her AT is only two. Along that same line, her DF is higher than her AT, at four. As she is a green Soul, this isn’t totally unexpected, but the simple fact that both attributes are so low is odd. But I digress.)_

June and May shared a look. They both knew the little girl wasn’t much of a fighter, but her low Stats seemed like an exaggeration of that. After seeing what May was capable of now that she had decent control of her purple magic, there was no way she was really that weak…was she? But the Gaster hologram continued, and they had to focus again.

“Pqy, vjg Uvcvu qh vjg vcnn jwocp...vjga ctg xgta kpvgtguvkpi. JR cv vyq vjqwucpf. CV cv qpg jwpftgf. FH cv hkhva, jcnh qh vjg CV. Cnn tgoctmcdna jkij xcnwgu, kh aqw pqvkeg, cu kh vjg vyq qh aqw ctg fgukipgf vq dg qrrqukvgu qh gcej qvjgt. Yjcv ocmgu vjku rctvkewnctna rgewnkct ku vjcv vjgug xcnwgu ctg yjcv ujg jcu ykvj c NQXG qh vyq. Kh kv ygtg jkijgt, vjg xcnwgu yqwnfp'v uvtkmg og cu qff. Dwv uwej uvtgpivj cv qpna vyq...tgcnna, kv'u swkvg ujqemkpi, gurgekcnna ikxgp vjcv dqvj qh aqwt GZR ku cv bgtq. Cpf vjg qpna gzrncpcvkqp K eqpukfgtgf jcu uqogvjkpi vq fq ykvj vjg hcev vjcv aqwt Uqwnu ctg wpwuwcn vq cp gzvtgog. Yjcv hgy jwocp Uqwnu vjg mkpi jcu ctg qpna qpg eqnqt, uq kv ku cp gcua eqpenwukqp vq ftcy vjcv aqw vyq ctg pq qtfkpcta jwocpu. K mpqy aqw ctg dqvj cyctg qh vjg wpwuwcn pcvwtg qh aqwt Uqwnu, uq K yqp'v dqvjgt vq iq kpvq owej fgvckn cdqwv kv. Dwv K fq jcxg c vjgqta, cpf kh aqw ejknftgp yknn kpfwnig cp qnf dqpgu nkmg og hqt c oqogpv, K'nn gzrnckp. Kv'u rtqdcdna uchg vq cuuwog aqw fqp'v mpqy owej qh cpavjkpi cdqwv qwt jkuvqta, uq vjcv'u yjgtg K pggf vq uvctv.” _(Now, the Stats of the tall human...they are very interesting. HP at two thousand. AT at one hundred. DF at fifty, half of the AT. All remarkably high values, if you notice, as if the two of you are designed to be opposites of each other. What makes this particularly peculiar is that these values are what she has with a LOVE of two. If it were higher, the values wouldn’t strike me as odd. But such strength at only two... really, it’s quite shocking, especially given that both of your EXP is at zero. And the only explanation I considered has something to do with the fact that your Souls are unusual to an extreme. What few human Souls the king has are only one color, so it is an easy conclusion to draw that you two are no ordinary humans. I know you are both aware of the unusual nature of your Souls, so I won’t bother to go into much detail about it. But I do have a theory, and if you children will indulge an old bones like me for a moment, I’ll explain. It’s probably safe to assume you don’t know much of anything about our history, so that’s where I need to start.)_

June’s lip curled into a sneer at this. A history lesson? She knew by now that Gaster was stalling. Rattling on about their Stats was clearly a distraction to give him time to get away from them, from her, and they were wasting time standing there listening to the hologram go on. But May and the boys were drawn in by what he said, curious. She knew she should be chasing him down and making him pay, but she didn’t trust leaving the kids alone again, so she was gritting her teeth, waiting. Gaster had really thought this through, though, hadn’t he, she thought to herself. He knew there was a risk that leaving nothing but the hologram wouldn’t get their attention, so he’d left a trap for them. After all, nothing grabbed the attention better than something trying to kill you. It practically ensured they’d stay put and listen, waiting for some sort of explanation of his actions. June rolled her eyes behind the kids’ backs, knowing his type. Answers weren’t going to be that easy.

She had to admit, though, he had her interest a little now. No one they’d met had offered even a guess as to why everything strange about them was a thing. Their powers, their magic (clearly a separate entity from the first, as proven by June trying to heal her sister back in their cell), and their twin Soul colors. The only ones she thought might have an idea were Science Sans and his Gaster, but both had been evasive and reluctant to share their theories with the girls. So she was curious what his idea might be, even if she knew it was against her better judgment to listen.

“Egpvwtkgu ciq, vjgtg ycu c itgcv yct dgvyggp jwocpu cpf oqpuvgtu. Cu kv vwtpu qwv, jwocpu ctg owej uvtqpigt vjcp oqpuvgtu, ocike qt pqv. Kv ycu vjcv uvtgpivj cpf vjgkt ujggt pwodgtu vjcv qxgtyjgnogf wu, cpf yg oqpuvgtu nquv vjg yct. Tcvjgt vjcp tkumkpi vqvcn gzvgtokpcvkqp qp qwt rctv, yg citggf vq iq nkxg wpfgt vjg pgctda oqwpvckp, Ov. Gdqvv. Vjgp, qp dgjcnh qh vjg jwocpu, ugxgp ocigu uvgrrgf hqtyctf cpf gtgevgf vjg Dcttkgt. Kv'u c ocikecn hqteg hkgnf qh uqtvu, cpf kv mggru wu vtcrrgf jgtg wpfgt vjg oqwpvckp. Gxgp vjqwij cnn vjg jwocpu cpf ocigu htqo vjcv vkog ctg nqpi iqpg, vjgkt ocike rgtukuvu, mggrkpi wu jgtg hqt cnn vjku vkog. Cpf vjqwij K yqwnf jcxg vq eqphkto kv ykvj uqogqpg yjq fkf vjg cevwcn hkijvkpi fwtkpi vjg yct, kv ku oa vjgqta vjcv kv ku rquukdng hqt vjg vyq qh aqw vq jcxg uwej wpwuwcn Uvcvu cpf Uqwn eqpfkvkqpu dgecwug vjg vyq qh aqw ctg ocigu.” _(Centuries ago, there was a great war between humans and monsters. As it turns out, humans are much stronger than monsters, magic or not. It was that strength and their sheer numbers that overwhelmed us, and we monsters lost the war. Rather than risking total extermination on our part, we agreed to go live under the nearby mountain, Mt. Ebott. Then, on behalf of the humans, seven mages stepped forward and erected the Barrier. It’s a magical force field of sorts, and it keeps us trapped here under the mountain. Even though all the humans and mages from that time are long gone, their magic persists, keeping us here for all this time. And though I would have to confirm it with someone who did the actual fighting during the war, it is my theory that it is possible for the two of you to have such unusual Stats and Soul conditions because the two of you are mages.)_

“Us? _Mages?_ ” June blurted, shaking her head. “I’ve put up with a lot since we first fell into the Underground, but that’s just absurd.”

“Is it, though?” May asked, the gears of her mind whirling at top speed. “I mean, think about it! Monsters, magic, parallel universes – heck, time travel, too, if you think about it – we’ve encountered it all, and before coming here, you’d have said all that was absurd too. And yet, look where we are, what we’ve done. What we still have to do! Is it really so hard to believe that we could be mages?”

June went quiet, and there was a brief pause, Gaster clearly having anticipated this sort of reaction out of the girls. They waited for his hologram to speak again, and when he did, it was with a knowing smile.

“K gzrgev aqw'tg swkvg uwtrtkugf. Cv hktuv, K ycu vqq. Dwv pq qvjgt vjgqta ocmgu ugpug, gurgekcnna yjgp aqwt...wpkswg ektewouvcpegu eqog kpvq rnca. Chvgt cnn, aqw yqwnfp'v jcxg jcf cpa gzrquwtg vq oqpuvgtu qp vjg uwthceg, cpf aqw jcxgp'v dggp kp vjg Wpfgtitqwpf nqpi gpqwij hqt vjcv vq jcxg cp ghhgev. Gxgp ikxgp vjg hcev vjcv aqw'xg dggp lworkpi dgvyggp fkhhgtgpv wpkxgtugu, K ecp'v kocikpg kv'u dggp nqpi gpqwij hqt aqw vq jcxg dqpfgf ykvj cpa rctvkewnct oqpuvgt. Dgukfgu, vjg nkvvng qpg ku vqq aqwpi hqt uqogvjkpi nkmg vjcv. Cpf K ecp iwguu yjcv aqw'tg vjkpmkpi. Vjg mkpf qh dqpfkpi K'o vcnmkpi cdqwv jcu pqvjkpi vq fq ykvj dghtkgpfkpi vjgo. Dwv K uwrrqug K'o igvvkpi qhh vqrke cickp. Vjg rqkpv ku, oa vjgqta ku vjcv aqw vyq ctg ocigu uqogjqy, cpf yjkng kv yqwnf jcxg dggp kpvgtguvkpi vq eqpvkpwg vq rkem aqw crctv wpvkn K eqwnf fkueqxgt lwuv jqy aqw vyq yqtm, K'o chtckf da igvvkpi qwv qh aqwt egnnu cpf eqokpi chvgt og, aqw'xg rwujgf og vq ftcuvke ogcuwtgu. Cu aqw'xg dggp ycvejkpi vjku jqnqitco, K'xg dggp qp oa yca qwv qh vjg Ncd cpf tkijv wr vq vjg mkpi vq kphqto jko qh yjcv K'xg fkueqxgtgf uq hct. Chvgt cnn, cu jg ycu mkpi yjgp vjg yct hktuv qeewttgf, uq K'o uwtg jg yqwnf dg xgta kpvgtguvgf vq hkpf qwv vjgtg ctg vyq ocigu jgtg kp vjg Wpfgtitqwpf ykvj wu. Cpf dghqtg aqw iq...aqw, vcnn qpg, kuuwgf c ejcnngpig vq og...cpf pqy K kuuwg qpg tkijv dcem. Iqqf nwem mggrkpi wr ykvj vjg uoctvguv rgtuqp kp vjg Wpfgtitqwpf.” _(I expect you’re quite surprised. At first, I was too. But no other theory makes sense, especially when your... unique circumstances come into play. After all, you wouldn’t have had any exposure to monsters on the surface, and you haven’t been in the Underground long enough for that to have an effect. Even given the fact that you’ve been jumping between different universes, I can’t imagine it’s been long enough for you to have bonded with any particular monster. Besides, the little one is too young for something like that. And I can guess what you’re thinking. The kind of bonding I’m talking about has nothing to do with befriending them. But I suppose I’m getting off topic again. The point is, my theory is that you two are mages somehow, and while it would have been interesting to continue to pick you apart until I could discover just how you two work, I’m afraid by getting out of your cells and coming after me, you’ve pushed me to drastic measures. As you’ve been watching this hologram, I’ve been on my way out of the Lab and right up to the king to inform him of what I’ve discovered so far. After all, as he was king when the war first occurred, so I’m sure he would be very interested to find out there are two mages here in the Underground with us. And before you go...you, tall one, issued a challenge to me...and now I issue one right back. Good luck keeping up with the smartest person in the Underground.)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Section Summaries:** May unwrapped her bandages so June could attempt to heal her. Her wounds were still fresh.  
>  With no access to other means, unable to think of any other way forward, and enraged by Gaster's betrayal, June asks May to use what wasn't trapped under the little girl's bandages as ink for a drawing with the intent to grant herself a new power. May is reluctant, but knows that June wouldn't hurt her, as she swallows her disgust and agrees.  
>  June forcibly shut off the power to the laser fence keeping them trapped in the cells - and opening all the other cells, too. This would normally leave her a little out of breath at the very least, but this time it doesn't...because the mark she drew on her arm with her improvised ink was a small infinity symbol, amplifying her power.
> 
> Phew...this chapter...so much Gaster dialogue...it was both fun and nightmarish to have to translate all that. But I am proud to say that this one (as intimidating as all that text is) is the worst of Gaster's dialogue taken care of. This is the one part where he monologues, and it is now out of the way. _*sigh of relief*_  
>  Anyway, a couple of things. First, I'm happy to say that the bonus content chapters are now up and running, and the work where they'll be chilling is called Beyond the Multiverse. I've created a series to keep the main work and the bonus stuff together, so just scroll to the bottom and click the next part of the series to get to it.  
>  Second, I have a Tumblr that you guys can leave comments and questions and things on, and it can be found [here](http://singingdreamwritesstuff.tumblr.com/)! Feel free to stop by if you're curious about anything! I don't bite!~ Oh, and I'll pass along any questions you guys have to Book_Warrior7, too, if you don't want to post them as comments to the story. Share the love!~  
>  With that all said, my job is done. Hope you guys enjoyed this one, and see you next week for more! -S


	24. Guilt Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaster in his regular ROT2 cipher, translations after the text, and **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!_** Mentions of blood and a character death occurs in this chapter. I'll mark them with the line of exclamation points I usually do and leave summaries in the end notes. -S

June turned with a growl, angry. She, for one, was ready to storm off and show Gaster just how wrong he was to assume she wouldn’t be able to find him. But May latched on to her sister’s arm, pulling her back.

“Wait, wait, wait! I know you’re mad, June, but think for a sec! We need to get our stuff before we head after him. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to come back here for anything.”

The teen gritted her teeth, making herself stop, the rational part of her brain screaming at her to listen to May. She stood absolutely still for a moment, then hissed, “Fine. We grab our stuff then hit the road. Make it fast.”

May nodded, darting into Gaster’s office and starting to search for their things. Sans and Papyrus helped, obviously not sure what they were looking for, but wanting to make the little girl happy. June sighed, then entered the office as well, looking around for where Gaster could have hidden their belongings. As it turned out, he had stashed one of their bags behind a replica of the Core, and the other under his desk.

“Guess he’s not that good at hiding things,” May giggled, digging in the desk drawers for the items she kept in her skirt pockets. June was rooting around the other side of the desk drawers when she found her own pocket items, one in particular catching her eye after she put the rest away. Scooping it up, it was heavier than she was expecting, but when she took off the piece of paper wrapped around it – her drawing of Error, she remembered – she realized why. When the three kids looked over in confusion at the tall ravenette, she was trying to stifle laughter.

Because in her hand was the lock from the basement.

“I forgot you even _had_ that! _Again!_ ” May guffawed, unable to help herself.

“Truth be told, so did I!” June replied breathlessly, still trying not to laugh. When they finally got themselves calmed down, the boys were staring at the girls, utterly lost.

“It’s um…it’s a lock. Like a traditional one, that requires a key to open. It’s just funny she still has it because that thing kind of reminds us of how this whole adventure started in the first place,” May explained, smiling. June pocketed it with a chuckle, shaking her head.

“And it’s coming with us because I still need to give it back when our little adventure is over.”

May bobbed her head in agreement, putting the last of her things back in her skirt pockets and shouldering her bag.

“Right. I think we’re all set.”

June nodded once before shifting her own pack on her narrow shoulders and stepping out of the office again, the three kids in tow.

“Right. Now which way to get the hell out of here…?”

“I think it’s this way. Come on, we’ve got no time to lose!”

It took a bit of doing, but they finally managed to find the elevator…blocked by a laser fence. June promptly shut it down without batting an eye, then boarded the elevator, May having to coax Sans and Papyrus inside. While in the elevator, June questioned why they referred to each other as W.D.G.-1-S and W.D.G.-2-P.

“THAT’S WHAT IT SAYS ON THE PLATES ON OUR HANDS. HE GAVE THEM TO US. THEY MUST BE OUR NAMES!”

June took Papyrus’ hand to look at, examining it closely before realizing the plates had been drilled into their hands, marked with the same set of initials as the machines from the skeleton brothers’ basement in their own universe. She fought the urge to growl as her rage peaked again, slowly letting go of Papyrus’ hand and shaking her head.

“Those aren’t your names. He branded you. Marked you as his, like you’re a…a _thing,_ like something he owns. But you can’t own people. It’s just wrong. From now on, you need to stop calling yourselves by that. It’s only proving him right.”

“then what should we call ourselves?”

May smiled, gently taking Sans’ hand and giving it a squeeze.

“Why don’t you let us give you names? That’ll show him you don’t belong to him, and it’ll always remind you of us.”

Sans blushed, and both skeletons nodded enthusiastically. May’s smile widened and she looked at Sans first.

“Okay then. How about…‘Sans’ for you,” she asked, pretending to have to think about their names when she paused. “and…‘Papyrus’ for you. Do those sound good?”

“yeah. they sound better than 2-p and 1-s.”

“I QUITE AGREE! PAPYRUS IS LONGER, BUT IT FEELS BETTER! FROM THIS MOMENT ON, I SHALL BE THE GREAT PAPYRUS!! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

“heh. i like that. sans…heh. heh heh heh.”

“Hey! You’re laughing now, too!” May beamed, joining them in their happy laughter. Even June smiled, relaxing some. Leave it to a bunch of kids to turn a tense moment into something joyful and carefree. Then the elevator doors popped open, cutting the moment short. May slipped her hands in Sans’ and Papyrus’ easily, glancing up at the older ravenette. June returned the glance, a look of understanding passing between the sisters before they squared their shoulders each and stepped out of the elevator.

June took the lead, walking out of the Lab like a girl on a mission, May trailing along with the boys behind her.

“June’s going to go ahead and chase down Gaster. We’re not as fast as she is on her own, so we’ll be have to go the long way to catch up. Just stay close to me and I’ll protect you,” June heard May say to the boys as she spread her wings to take off. Despite her low Stats, June knew May could hold her own against anything the monsters of the Underground had to throw at her. She was a tough kid, and she could look out for the boys. As for June…

The teen soared into the air, carried by her powerful wings, kicking up a mighty cloud of dust in her wake.

She had a skeleton monster to hunt down.

Her orange and blue magic snapping and crackling around her hands and in her eyes, she sped in the direction of the ominous-looking Core, hoping to be able to find Gaster in time without being stopped by any monsters. And luckily, she did, spotting his lab coat fluttering behind him as he moved at a brisk trot, avoiding other monsters easily. June, looking particularly intimidating, swooped low, scattering the monsters around Gaster as she landed ahead of him, making quite the dramatic grand entrance as she landed with her back to him, having to sweep her wings out of the way as she turned to face him. The dark and foreboding look on her face sent any lingering monsters scurrying, leaving just her and Gaster standing at the top of the Core. He was frozen for a second, startled into taking a few steps back. He eyed the elevator doors behind her, but she didn’t shift, boring into him with an intense gaze. Then she fixed him with that look. That same sinister, peeking up through her bangs, smile-that-didn’t-quite-reach-her-eyes look that she’d first used on the simulated Grillby. And, much to her satisfaction, Gaster flinched, shuddering under her look. Then he recovered, straightening his spine and giving her a fierce snarl of his own, one that she didn’t find the least bit intimidating.

“K jqrg aqw mpqy yjcv aqw’tg igvvkpi aqwtugnh kpvq, ejknf.” _(I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into, child.)_ Gaster sneered as June’s Soul pulled free from her chest. Her dark smile turned into an evil grin that would have had his blood running cold if he’d had any.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“I could say the same to you, pal. Especially given that…well…” she chuckled darkly, turning her arm so he could see the infinity symbol drawn there in blood. He paled some, but gritted his teeth and stepped towards her, summoning a set of sharpened bones to attack her with.

Their battle went on for a while, both going back and forth between dodging and attacking, circling around and around on the platform. There were a few times where Gaster’s dodging almost knocked him to the edge of the platform, but he would recover enough to crawl away from it to safety. And June, to her credit, only took to the air when absolutely necessary, like when dodging an attack would have sent her careening off the edge and into the Core. Otherwise, her wings stayed tightly folded against her back, more like an accessory than something of actual use. After all, she didn’t want this fight to end too soon. She wanted Gaster to learn his lesson the hard way. Still, June knew she needed to wrap it up when she felt her energy beginning to ebb and her breathing become labored. Since she’d given herself basically infinite power, she thought it was a little strange, but when she got the chance to look, she spotted that the bloody infinity sign had lines of sweat cutting through it. In its damaged state, the drawing wouldn’t work as well, fading in and out randomly. There was enough left for her to work with, however, as long as she worked quickly.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

As if sensing this was his chance to finally get through to her, Gaster finally began speaking again, June having refused to listen to him or answer his questions earlier.

“Aqwt ukuvgt…ujg uggogf vq dgnkgxg vjgtg ycu uqogvjkpi iqqf kp og. Ku ujg lwuv nkmg vjcv? Qt fq aqw ugg kv vqq?” _(Your sister... she seemed to believe there was something good in me. Is she just like that? Or do you see it too?)_

“You’ve seen her Soul. You should know that she’s just like that. She sees the good in everyone, no matter how awful they really are. She always believes in people, even if they don’t deserve it. She’s sweet and pure and good like that. But me? I’m not like her. I’ve seen too much of how cruel the world really is. I know better, and because of that, I see you for what you really are. You’re the kind of person who lies, tortures, _kills_ if they have to. And all for what? What end game are you playing for, Gaster?”

“Vjgtg ku pq gpf icog. K…K ycu lwuv…K jcf vq hkpf c yca vq ikxg vjg mkpifqo jqrg. K jcf vq fq uqogvjkpi vq vta vq jgnr dtgcm vjg dcttkgt!” _(There is no end game. I... I was just... I had to find a way to give the kingdom hope. I had to do something to try to help break the barrier!)_

“You tortured _kids,_ for god’s sake, Gaster! What the hell did you think that was going to accomplish?! And for fuck’s sake, those boys…they’re your own goddamn flesh and blood! Or blood and bone, or _whatever!_ Point is, you were fucking _experimenting_ on them! What kind of sick fuck _does_ that?!”

“K fkfp'v jcxg c ejqkeg! Kv ycu gkvjgt vwtp oa dcem qp oa tgurqpukdknkva vq vjg mkpi – vq cnn qh oqpuvgt mkpf – cpf tckug vjgo cu oa uqpu, qt vwtp oa dcem qp vjgo cpf fq yjcv jcf vq dg fqpg. K eqwnfp'v ngv vjgkt pggfu eqog dghqtg vjg pggfu qh gxgtaqpg gnug.” _(I didn’t have a choice! It was either turn my back on my responsibility to the king – to all of monster kind – and raise them as my sons, or turn my back on them and do what had to be done. I couldn’t let their needs come before the needs of everyone else.)_

“So you chose to go all fucking Spock on them. The needs of the many are greater than the needs of the few and all that shit. Some fucking greater good you were working for, Gaster. Once people find out what you’ve done, what do you think is gonna happen? Most monsters won’t agree with what you’ve done. You’ll be discredited, an outcast among your own people, and that hope you were working so hard to give them will be yanked away. In the end, it was all for nothing. I get that you were trying to do some twisted version of what you thought was the right thing, but you did it all wrong. You’ve done nothing more than set yourself, set all of monster kind up, for major disappointment. Which, for the smartest person in the Underground, was pretty fucking stupid!”

He finally fell silent, as if her words were really hitting home. He finally lowered his hands, dropping the bones he had summoned to attack her with. She kept her current power activated, fire licking hungrily up her arms. She wasn’t going to let her guard down just yet, but if he was willing to back down…

“K…K fkfp’v mpqy yjcv gnug vq fq. K pgxgt ycpvgf vq jwtv vjgo. Dwv K hgnv cu kh K fkfp’v jcxg c ejqkeg.” _(I...I didn’t know what else to do. I never wanted to hurt them. But I felt as if I didn’t have a choice.)_

“You always had a choice, Gaster. And you always chose to put others first. You thought you were doing the right thing, but in reality, you chose wrong. Every. Single. Time.”

“Agu. K...K ugg vjcv pqy. K ugg aqw ctg tkijv. Yjcv K'xg fqpg vq vjgo...vq vjqug dqau...vq oa uqpu...kv'u pqv uqogvjkpi vjcv ecp dg wpfqpg. Vjga'nn pgxgt nqqm cv og cu vjga nqqm cv gcej qvjgt. Cu aqw cpf aqwt ukuvgt nqqm cv gcej qvjgt. Cu vjga nqqm cv vjg vyq qh aqw. Vjcv vtwuv, vjcv nqxg...K'nn pgxgt jcxg vjcv.” _(Yes. I...I see that now. I see you are right. What I’ve done to them...to those boys...to my sons...it’s not something that can be undone. They’ll never look at me as they look at each other. As you and your sister look at each other. As they look at the two of you. That trust, that love...I’ll never have that.)_

Gaster was slowly backing up, his attack fading out of existence. June blinked in surprise as her Soul jumped up from the ground and sank back into her chest. He really was backing down. But then, why was he literally backing off, backing towards…June’s eyes widened, realizing what was happening.

“Aqw ctg tkijv cdqwv gxgtavjkpi. K ujqwnf pgxgt jcxg gxgt nckf c hkpigt qp vjgo, vjg jqrgu qh vjg mkpifqo dg fcopgf. K’xg ngv vjgo fqyp. K’xg ngv gxgtaqpg fqyp.” _(You are right about everything. I should never have ever laid a finger on them, the hopes of the kingdom be damned. I’ve let them down. I’ve let everyone down.)_

Gaster continued to back up, until his feet were at the edge of the platform they were standing on. June’s breathed hitched on her throat. No, she thought, this wasn’t what she’d wanted. She hadn’t meant for him to take her “lesson” this far.

The heat surrounding her hands; the pain and weariness she’d endured, all in the name of protecting her sister; the fighting she’d done to make him stop what he was doing…her mind was suddenly reeling backwards, ten years back, and she wasn’t standing before a tall skeleton monster. She was standing before her own father, staring up at him as he moved in slow motion. She was tall for eight years old, but her father still towered over her, brandishing a broken beer bottle in one hand. Her pulse quickened as she watched that bottle catch her off guard, slicing through the air towards her face. She physically flinched, crying out, “No!” and backing away from Gaster some, much to his surprise.

“Pq? Yjcv wpfgt vjg gctvj fq aqw ogcp, ejknf?” _(No? What under the earth do you mean, child?)_

May, having finally caught up to them when they started talking, was equally confused by her sister’s actions, looking between the scientist and the teen, with a worried expression. But when June opened her eyes, she didn’t see either of them. What she saw was the ghost of the girls’ father somewhere beyond Gaster, swinging a heavy fist down at her. She dodged the remembered blow, falling to the ground as if she had been struck, holding up her hands to shield herself, trembling and whimpering softly.

“Aqw uckf kv aqwtugnh. K cnycau jcf c ejqkeg, cpf K cnycau ejqug ytqpi. K jcxg hckngf gxgtaqpg. Cnn oa yqtm ycu hqt pqvjkpi.” _(You said it yourself. I always had a choice, and I always chose wrong. I have failed everyone. All my work was for nothing.) _Gaster continued, oblivious to the girl’s pitiful whimpering. May, however, was not, and she moved closer to her sister, staying out of range of June’s fire, but not out of her line of sight.__

____

This proved to further deepen whatever was clouding the older girl’s mind, as when she looked up, she glanced between her sister and Gaster, her vision shifting. Horror flashed on her face she took in the sight of her two year old sister, crying in her playpen, and their father looming over the little girl, gripping the neck of the broken bottle tighter in his hand.

____

“Dad, no!” the teen shouted, making both Gaster and May freeze where they stood. “Please, don’t do it!”

____

“Yjcv? Aqw…aqw tgcnna vjkpm K ujqwnfp’v? Chvgt gxgtavjkpi aqw uckf, jwocp…chvgt gxgtavjkpi K fkf vq aqw cpf aqwt ukuvgt…aqw cickp ecnn og hcvjgt cpf ykuj hqt og vq tgeqpukfgt oa qyp fgcvj?” _(What? You...you really think I shouldn’t? After everything you said, human...after everything I did to you and your sister...you again call me father and wish for me to reconsider my own death?)_

____

“Don’t! Don’t do it! Dad, I’m begging you! Use your head for once! _Think!_ Please! Just stop!”

____

“Dgnkgxg og, jwocp, K co wukpi oa jgcf. K co vjkpmkpi. Cpf K vjkpm vjgtg ku pq tgfgorvkqp hqt og. K co uqtta vjcv aqw jcxg vq dg rtgugpv hqt vjku.” _(Believe me, human, I am using my head. I am thinking. And I think there is no redemption for me. I am sorry that you have to be present for this.)_

____

Hearing June’s words, seeing the look on her face, May suddenly understood what was happening to her sister. At the same time, it registered what Gaster was doing, and she whirled to face the skeleton, June suddenly losing focus on her powers and scrambling to her feet. Tears in her eyes, she rushed forward as Gaster stepped off the edge of the platform.

____

The tall ravenette dove for him, her mind lingering in a limbo between the harsh reality before her and her too-powerful memories, latching onto his arm and winding up halfway off the edge of the platform herself. May instinctively ran forward, grabbing her sister’s legs and digging in her heels, keeping them both from tumbling over the edge.

____

“Yjcv ctg aqw fqkpi? K vjqwijv vjku ycu yjcv aqw ycpvgf.” _(What are you doing? I thought this was what you wanted.) _Gaster called over the thrum of the machinery around them, confused by her behavior. June shook her head, gravity making her tears splash against his face and skull as she looked down at him. Reality had come back into sharp and terrifying focus for her, and she gripped him tighter, trying to pull the both of them back up onto the platform.__

______ _ _

“ _No!_ This isn’t what I wanted _at all!_ Gaster, don’t do this to yourself! You’re… _you’re choosing wrong again!_ I know you want to set things right, but offing yourself isn’t the answer! _I tried that!_ Believe me, _it doesn’t work! You can’t make things right if you’re dead, dammit!_ ” she shouted back, trying to pour the last of her strength into pulling him up. But Gaster was like a dead weight, refusing to help.

______ _ _

A slow, sad smile crept up on his face, and rather than reaching up to pull himself up, he used his other hand to wipe at her tears.

______ _ _

“Cpf jgtg K vjqwijv aqwt ukuvgt okijv dg qpg qh c mkpf…dwv fgurkvg vjg etwgnva aqw’xg hcegf, vjgtg ku uvknn uqogvjkpi mkpf kp aqwt jgctv, vqq. Jqnf qp vq vjcv, ejknf. K’o uwtg aqw’nn pggf kv.” _(And here I thought your sister might be one of a kind...but despite the cruelty you’ve faced, there is still something kind in your heart, too. Hold on to that, child. I’m sure you’ll need it.)_

______ _ _

______

_____ _

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

_____ _

__  
_  
_

______ _ _

With that, Gaster summoned a small sharpened bone to his free hand and stabbed it into her hand, forcing her to let go of him. Still, June reached out for him as she watched him drop into the Core, screaming his name. Free of Gaster’s dead weight, May was finally able to pull her sister back to safety, holding her back from spreading her wings and flying after him in a desperate attempt to save him. A second later, it was as if the Core suddenly sent out a pulse of power, knocking the sisters over and rocking the entire Underground. The girls sat up slowly, dazed. June scrambled over to the edge of the platform where he’d fallen, spreading her wings, about to go and look for him. But May grabbed her arm, ducking under her outstretched wing to be seen.

______ _ _

______

_____ _

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

_____ _

__  
_  
_

______ _ _

“He’s gone, June.”

______ _ _

June looked over at her sullen sister, then slowly folded her wings again, putting them away and gently pushing her fist into the ground, as if she were willing her negative emotions to leave her body through her hand and go into the ground.

______ _ _

“Dammit…” she whispered, her lowered head making it almost impossible to see that she was crying. “I could have saved him…why, Gaster? Why did you just give up?”

______ _ _

“He was blind to the truth for so long…he probably didn’t think there was any other option. You tried, though. You tried your best, and that’s more than most people would have given him after everything.”

______ _ _

The girls sat in silence for a moment, neither one having more to say. Then they heard footsteps.

______ _ _

“Girls?” a familiar voice said softly, sounding like embers shifting in a fire. They both looked up, spotting Grillby approaching the melancholy girls slowly, Sans and Papyrus behind him. When they saw something had upset the girls, the skeleton children rushed up to them.

______ _ _

“may? what’s wrong? why do you look so sad?”

______ _ _

“JUNE? WHY ARE YOU CRYING? PLEASE DO NOT CRY. WHATEVER HAS UPSET YOU, WE WILL FIX IT!”

______ _ _

Papyrus’ words only made June cry harder, but she pulled him into a fierce hug anyway. Both he and Sans looked to May for answers, a few tears of her own starting to slip out.

______ _ _

“please don’t cry. we hate seeing you cry. both of you. what’s wrong? what can we do?”

______ _ _

May finally just shook her head, not trusting her voice. Grillby knelt next to the four of them, just as confused as the boys, but understanding what May was trying to say.

______ _ _

“I don’t think there’s anything you _can_ do, boys. Whatever’s upset them…it’s not something that can be fixed.”

______ _ _

May nodded, gasping a little sob as Sans wrapped her in a hug. When the girls had calmed enough to be guided out of the Core, Grillby pressed gently for what had happened. May tried to explain, but much to the girls’ surprise, neither he, nor the skeleton children even remembered who Gaster was. Finally, June settled on an abbreviated version without his name.

______ _ _

“Regardless of who he was,” she growled with no real anger or venom in her voice, “he was an acquaintance of ours who made some mistakes. Bad ones. He thought the only way to make up for what he’d done was to jump into the Core. And we were right there when he did it.”

______ _ _

Grillby quit asking after that. He didn’t need to know more details. But June did, confused why he wasn’t back at his bar in Snowdin.

______ _ _

“I had to make a supply run. I was making my way back through the Core when I saw you flying overhead. Not long after that, I ran into your sister and these two. She was in such a hurry, she begged me to look after the boys for a bit, then ran off to catch up to you. But she forgot something she’d given the boys, and they insisted it was important, so we came looking for you two. We were almost to the top when that tremor hit. Scared the boys pretty bad. After that, we found you.”

______ _ _

Now Sans and Papyrus shuffled forward, holding out the girl’s watches, still clutched tight in their hands.

______ _ _

“Oh…I completely forgot…I was so worried about something happening…thanks, guys. I owe you one. Again,” May replied, taking them and slipping one into June’s hand.

______ _ _

Both girls were very subdued as they put the devices back on their wrists. Both thought they should check in with Science and his Gaster, but neither one had the heart at the moment, and since they had nowhere else to go…

______ _ _

“Grillby? Can the four of us stay with you for the night? We don’t have anywhere else to go, and the boys are with us.”

______ _ _

“Of course you can. You girls are welcome at my place any time you need somewhere to crash. You and the boys. And you can explain again to me who they are and why you two can’t seem to stay out of trouble.”

______ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Section Summaries:** June faced Gaster, showing him the infinity symbol she'd drawn. They duke it out for a while, as June refuses to listen to Gaster when he talks to her, but eventually, June's power wanes. She discovers that her infinity symbol is wearing off from the sweat lines through it, and has to make use of what power she can glean from it before it fades out entirely.  
>  After stabbing June in the hand to force her to let go, Gaster plummets into the Core. Afterward, the Underground is rocked by an earthquake, knocking the sisters to the ground. Once it subsided, June started to go after Gaster, but May stops her.
> 
> Man...another painful chapter. Handplates rips my heart out and stomps on it. But anyway, that's it for this week, guys. See you next week for more! -S


	25. Fun With Tongues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This chapter's coming early because my birthday is tomorrow, and I don't plan on doing anything but relaxing. In the meantime, Gaster's text is in it's usual ROT2 cipher with the translations after the text. -S

When June and May finally checked in with Science Sans and his Gaster the next day, is was with no small amount of apprehension. Seeing Gaster again, even though it was a different Gaster, would be…interesting.

As per usual, the girls winced when their devices gave a burst of static, but when it cleared enough for them to see Science Sans look up from in front of the controls, a mix of fear and hope on his face. Then the fear melted away as he realized it was them, and his eyes filled with actual stars, his joy overriding everything else.

“oh my stars, you’re alive! you’re alive! i can’t believe it! it felt like it was too long! we were so worried – _i_ was so worried – i knew something had to have happened for you not to check in for so long, and gaster tried to tell me i was getting worked up over nothing, but i knew something was wrong! but, oh, you’re alive! and, and – gaster! gaster!” Sans shouted off screen stopping his excited bouncing around and rushing off, then dragging a flustered Gaster back onscreen with him. “they’re here! they’re alive! oh my stars, i’m so glad you’re okay!”

The girls laughed, despite themselves, Science’s sheer happiness and relief that they were okay enough to call easing their initial fears.

“Science, buddy, calm down. Of course we’re okay. Er, okay in the sense that there’s no lasting damage. I hope. We’ve gotta figure out how to get you healed, baby girl,” June sighed, the last part of her comment directed at May, gingerly ruffling the younger’s hair. The younger giggled, leaning into the older’s comforting touch. Still, the comment gave both skeletons pause.

“what do you mean by that? are you guys okay? something happened, didn’t it? i knew it! i knew something had to have happened! why else wouldn’t you have checked in with us for so long? where are you? do we need to find a way to come get you? why does may need healing? what happened?”

“Ucpu, rngcug. Aqw’tg qxgtyjgnokpi vjgo. Ikxg vjg iktnu c ejcpeg vq urgcm. K’o uwtg yjcvgxgt vjga jcxg vq uca yknn gpnkijvgp wu vq vjgkt ukvwcvkqp ykvjqwv vjg pggf hqt uqogvjkpi ftcuvke.” _(Sans, please. You’re overwhelming them. Give the girls a chance to speak. I’m sure whatever they have to say will enlighten us to their situation without the need for something drastic.)_

June gave Gaster a grateful look, both girls sharing an awkward glance before turning back to their respective screens.

“You guys may want to grab a couple chairs. This one’s…kind of a doozy,” May said, sobering quickly.

As the girls took turns recounting their story and not sparing the boys – and each other, for that matter – any gory details, they watched the boys’ reactions to everything, horror and disgust the most common expressions. By the time they finished, Sans and Papyrus from the universe they were in had woken up from sleeping to hear May getting emotional over one part of her story, Sans curling up next to her and slipping his hand in hers, Papyrus climbing into June’s lap. The girls took a small comfort in the skeleton children’s presence, and both older skeletons took a great interest in the kids.

“So we kinda just came back to Grillby’s. I mean, it’s not like we have anywhere else to turn right now. Not in this universe.”

“We probably could have found Muffet. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind giving us a hand. Or five.”

“Yeah, but she’d probably scare the kiddos. She’s kind of…intense, if you’re not used to her.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“may? june? who are they?”

Both girls looked at the young Sans, then glanced back to their screens, the Science boys oddly silent for the moment. Processing, most likely, June thought.

“Well, the little one is you. But older. And from a different universe,” June answered, looking at him gently.

“And the tall one…his name is Gaster.”

“LIKE YOUR FRIEND THAT JUMPED INTO THE CORE? BUT I THOUGHT YOU SAID HE WASN’T COMING BACK?”

“He’s…he’s not, Papyrus. That one isn’t coming back. But this one is different. He’s still here. And he’s a lot nicer than the one that…well, it doesn’t matter now. What matters is his name is Gaster, and both he and the older Sans are helping us.”

The kids looked confused, but that was the best way either girl could think to explain to them about a man they couldn’t even remember. Either way, they shrugged it off, returning their attention to the small screens.

“his name is sans, too?”

“Yeah, but we call him Science, so we don’t get confused.”

“oh. can i have a nickname, too?”

“Of course you can! What do you wanna be called?”

The young Sans went silent, thinking. Then he shrugged.

“i don’t know. whatever you want to call me would be fine.”

Now it was May’s turn to think, and she pressed a finger to her lips as she cast her ice-blue eyes upward, a thoughtful hum escaping her. Then her head snapped back down, a happy little grin on her face.

“What about Sansy? Can I call you that? It’s close to your name, but it’s special to you, so –”

“okay. i like it,” he answered with a smile. May grinned, glossing over that he cut her off.

“Okay then! From now on, I’ll call you Sansy!” the little girl giggled, throwing her arms around him in a hug. He laughed, hugging her back, a small blue blush faintly staining his cheekbones. June and Papyrus both just smiled at them, happy to see them both so pleased. Finally Science got their attention again, and all four turned their attention back to the screens.

“What’s up, Science?”

“if it’s too dangerous, you don’t have to keep doing this. you guys have both been through so much already…i’m sure we could find someone else who’d be willing to help.”

“Not in time to stop whatever Error’s got planned next, you wouldn’t,” June replied, shaking her head with a frown. “I hate to say this, since it means May’s still in harm’s way when push comes to shove, but we’re the only ones who can do this. We’re already on our way, we know how to operate these… _thingies_ …we have the experience and know-how to fight Error – we’ve seen first-hand what we’re getting ourselves into for crying out loud. Besides that, literally no one else can do what we can.”

“Yeah! You’d have to form an army just to cover what _June_ can do. And we don’t even know all of what _I_ can do. And even then, Error can enslave whole _worlds_ without anyone noticing. I don’t think there’s much an army could do against him.”

“We know what’s at stake here. We knew from the get-go. We signed up for this. If we backed off now…it wouldn’t be right. We can’t just start this job and get scared off at the first real sign of trouble. Especially with so much riding on this, on us.”

“June’s right. We can’t just give up now! There are people out there who still need us! We can’t let them down! We have to do this. If we don’t who will?”

Science paused, then a small smile graced his features, a sigh escaping him. He shook his head, blushing a little.

“you two…how you manage to be so valiant and selfless…humans really are something else.”

“Actually, that brings another thing to mind that we need to talk about. Gaster from this universe mentioned…uh…Gaster, why are you hugging Science?”

Science Gaster had moved over to Science Sans and was hugging him fiercely, his face buried against the smaller skeleton’s skull. Science Sans seemed perplexed by this too, at first. Then it seemed to dawn on him whatever was going on, and tears formed in the corners of his eye sockets, hugging Gaster back. Whatever was going on, the four looking on from the screens felt they were intruding on a private moment, and both girls turned their wrists away. When they heard a sigh crackle through the devices, they glanced at each other, wondering if it was safe to return to the conversation.

“Jwocpu? Yjgtg fkf aqw iq?” _(Humans? Where did you go?)_

“We’re still here, Gaster,” June answered, the sisters twisting their wrists back so they could be seen again. “Just seemed like you guys needed a minute.”

Science gave a little laugh, and though he was blushing, he thanked them for that.

“Swkvg. Kv ycu lwuv…jgctkpi aqwt vcng qh vjku cnvgtpcvg og yjq ygpv vq uwej ngpivju cu vq jcto jku qyp uqpu, gxgp jctokpi vjg dqvj qh aqw…” _(Quite. It was just... hearing your tale of this alternate me who went to such lengths as to harm his own sons, even harming the both of you...)_

“It’s okay, Gaster. It was…difficult…for us, too. But you have to remember, he may have been _like_ you, but he wasn’t you. He made a choice that set him on a different path than the one you’re on. And no matter what happens, you’re not him. You’re a good person, Gaster. You wouldn’t hurt anyone – at least, not on purpose. I can feel it. I just know.”

May smiled gently, her words ringing with a certain authority and wisdom that was strange to hear from someone so young. And yet, coming from her, it sounded strong and natural. June looked to her sister, her heart swelling with pride and love. May had always had a way with words, knowing exactly what to say and when to say it. She always spoke from the heart, and everything she did came from there, too. The teen had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the abundance of kindness within the little girl. And after all, who better to have the unseen powers of warmth and comfort than someone with a green Soul?

But as she watched, she noticed something that gave her pause. For a moment, she’d heard a soft hum in the air. The hum was accompanied by a gentle green glow, emanating from the spot May’s Soul was in her chest and shaped like a heart. June blinked in surprise, but as quickly as it happened, it disappeared, the glow fading with the hum. To be honest, she wasn’t sure if she had imagined it or not. She was pretty wiped from the earlier episode, so it wasn’t out of the question that she was just seeing things, but it did worry her some.

Luckily for her state of mind, she didn’t have time to dwell on it, as the young Sans’ eye sockets widened and he looked at May in surprise.

“you glowed! i didn’t know humans could do that!” he breathed. May looked very confused.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“he’s right, we saw it too. your chest…no, i think it might have been your Soul…something you said just now triggered a reaction. and while it didn’t manifest, it looked like your Soul was glowing from inside you.”

“Well, glad I’m not going crazy, then. But…did anyone else notice a hum? Or was that just me?”

“Wait, hold on. You think my Soul was glowing from something I said? That…”

“If you say that seems far-fetched after how you were fighting to get me to think through the nut’s theory earlier, I’m calling hypocrite.”

“Well it does! I mean, how could something I said have any effect on whether or not it glows when it’s inside me? It shouldn’t do that either way…right?”

“What are you looking at me for? I’m just as confused as you. And I’m still wondering about the hum I heard.”

“C jwo? Eqwnf aqw rngcug gzrnckp?” _(A hum? Could you please explain?)_

“It was like this…” June tried to think of what sounded similar, but saying to a being of magic that it sounded like magic wasn’t going to help. So she closed her eyes, focused on what she remembered it sounded like, and hummed the note she heard, hoping she had the pitch right. Then she opened her eyes and focused on the screen again.

“I think it was something like that. To me, it sounded a lot like when she uses her magic.”

“Wait, you can hear when I use my magic?”

“Yeah. The sound is pretty distinct. Like a…” The teen sighed, finding her words failing her again and hummed the note, thinking back to when May had used her magic last, freeing the monsters of the Outer universe from Error’s control. Her gaze returned to her sister.

“Oh! That noise! I thought I was imagining it! But I hear it when I use my magic, too!”

“So you see what I mean? But it’s usually pretty quiet, like the first time I noticed it, it was like right on the edge of my hearing. But after that, it was every time I saw you using your magic. But just now…that hum was close, but not quite the same.”

“I heard the difference,” May nodded, meaning when June had hummed the two notes. “It sounded lower. Like the pitch. I think it was next note or two down.”

June nodded in agreement. Then it hit her.

“Wait. So does mine have a sound?”

“Yeah, it does! You remember Outer’s magic right? It had that really low _hmm_ that he couldn’t hear? Yours is kinda like that, but more like a _hmm._ At least, the blue one does. I’ve never seen you use the orange until yesterday, but it sounded different, like _hmm,_ ” May explained, humming each distinct note she was referencing in turn, Outer Sans’ magic being the lowest pitch, and June’s orange magic being the highest. Then a pattern emerged in June’s mind, and she tapped a finger to her lips in thought.

“What?”

“It occurred to me…maybe Outer’s blue magic and mine sound so similar because it’s the same note, but in a different octave. And the orange magic is an entirely different note in the same scale, but much higher up. Think music. The blue sounds like Re, making the orange La or Ti. His blue sounded lower because…”

“Because it was the same note, in a different octave. Or maybe a different key altogether! Which would mean it wasn’t the same note, but it could still sound the same! Like how Do in the key of C isn’t the same as in the key of D or F, but other notes sound the same as key of C Do.”

“Oh, good point. I hadn’t thought of that. So does that mean other forms of magic have different pitches according to color and user as well?”

“Oh! I wish we knew! But we only have those two to check!”

“Not necessarily. Your purple has that hum it makes, that one that I noticed back in Outer. The _hmm_ I told you about,” June replied, humming the note in question. “It’s higher than either of mine, but it sounds lower than the other note, the hum that I heard when you glowed a second ago. And besides, we both know you can control the shields you use in battle. That’s a form of magic on its own, and I’m guessing it has to do with your green half, since the shield is green.”

“and you’d be right. those with green magic have shields they can use to protect themselves and their allies. but that’s not all you can do with green magic.”

Their conversation with the Science boys all but forgotten, they both turned their watches so they could be seen again.

“Oh, sorry about that guys. I guess we got carried away. But what was that about green magic?”

“Kv'u swkvg cntkijv. Yg cnn jcxg c vgpfgpea vq igv ecwijv wr kp cp gzekvkpi fkueqxgta htqo vkog vq vkog. Oaugnh kpenwfgf. Dwv cu Ucpu ycu ucakpi, itggp ocike ecp rtqfweg ujkgnfu, dwv vjcv'u pqv cnn kv ku ecrcdng qh. Itggp ocike ecp cnuq jgcn, dwv kvu ghhgevkxgpguu qt gxgp wug ku gpvktgna fgrgpfgpv wrqp vjg wugt.” _(It’s quite alright. We all have a tendency to get caught up in an exciting discovery from time to time. Myself included. But as Sans was saying, green magic can produce shields, but that’s not all it is capable of. Green magic can also heal, but its effectiveness or even use is entirely dependent upon the user.)_

“So what you’re saying is that May’s kind of magic – the kind she’s had from the start – can heal others?”

“potentially. not all who use green magic can heal, but all who can heal use green magic…even if healing is the only reason they have it.”

There was a pause as it sank in.

“How do you know if someone with green magic can heal? And can a green magic user heal themselves?”

“we wouldn’t know,” Science replied, shaking his head. “neither of us have green magic, so we don’t have experience with it.”

Typical, June thought with a frown. They had all the facts, but when it came to practical use and application, they were at a loss. Classic nerdy behavior. And as much as she wanted to vocalize those thoughts, she also thought better of it. Better not to alienate the people trying to help you. Especially since, for the first time in a long time (too long, May would have said), she found herself actually starting to get attached to someone other than her sister.

Quite a few someones, she mentally corrected, hugging Papyrus just a smidge tighter. Even if they were all parallel versions of the same people. As May had so rightly put it, though they were all similar, no one version was going to be exactly like the last. And hell, it was hard not to notice when they had no idea who the girls were.

The thought made June’s brow furrow a little. That part never made sense to her. Why was it that everyone else remembered them when the girls made friends with them – especially Grillby, sweet man that he was – but not one of the three skeletons could remember them when they crossed the worlds? It stung a little bit not to be remembered, but it was also just plain weird. She’d read enough books and seen enough movies to know that the troupe was that either no one remembered you, or everyone did. It didn’t work selectively. Could it have something to do with the fact that the whole adventure was centered around the skeletons? No, that didn’t make sense, the girls hadn’t even known Gaster existed when the whole thing started. Which was something June wanted to ask their Sans about when (or if, for that matter) they ever got back to their home dimension.

When she noticed a tiny hand waving in and out of her vision, June blinked, realizing she’d been lost in her own thoughts for a while.

“Earth to June? Hello? Is anyone there?”

“Eh heh heh, sorry, kiddo,” June blushed, a little embarrassed. “My mind kinda got sidetracked. What’d I miss?”

May rolled her eyes with a sigh, then held out her hands.

“Check this out. The boys told me using my green magic shouldn’t be that hard. It’s like what Muffet said about using my purple magic. I concentrate on the feelings I want to convey with my magic, and…”

May concentrated, the hum from earlier returning along with the glowing heart, her hands now glowing a bright emerald green, too. She then swiped them in the air between the sisters, and a thick shimmering green shield appeared, blocking May and Sans from June and Papyrus. The older girl’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You can materialize shields outside of battle now!”

May grinned, the magic fading away as she lost her focus.

“Yep! I realized the shields appear when I feel strong and confident and protective. Or angry and defensive. And the appearance depends on which one I’m feeling. If I’m protective, it’s all pretty and shimmery like that. When I’m mad, it looks more like green plastic or glass. And the thickness depends on how strongly I feel those things.”

“i honestly don’t know how we got away for so long without telling you about that,” Science sighed, and June looked at her watch in time to catch him rubbing the back of his neck as if he were embarrassed. “see, with magic and Souls, everything comes down to intent. like with may’s shields, if she feels protective verses defensive. while both are instinctual responses to something, they don’t yield the same result. protective means the shield as a whole will be stronger, making sure everyone on her side of it is safe. defensive means wherever she is behind her shield is going to be the strongest point, getting weaker as it moves out towards the edges, as the sole focus is keeping her safe. and, as a general rule, positive feelings provide better results as far as magic goes. negative is just as strong, if not sometimes stronger, but not always as reliable.”

“Huh. Explains why my blue magic is so potent when I’m flinging something around in a fit of rage versus when I’m just moving us from place to place.”

Gaster tilted his head, looking both intrigued and a little confused.

“Yjcv fq aqw ogcp da vjcv?” _(What do you mean by that?)_

“Well, if I happened to use my magic in a fight, I use my blue like I’d use my telekinesis. Lots of gesturing with my hands, even if it’s not strictly necessary. So when I do use my blue magic, I’m usually in a bit of a mood when I do. It really amps up the power, but the accuracy and precision leave something to be desired. When I used it in Outer to get us from asteroid to asteroid, it was gentler, and more precise. I barely had to move or gesture at all to get the results I wanted.”

“Cpf yjcv ygtg aqw hggnkpi kp vjgug kpuvcpegu?” _(And what were you feeling in these instances?)_

“Let’s see…it’s not as simple as saying I was upset or something. I have varying degrees of my emotions, even if it’s hard to tell.”

“It’s not that it’s hard to tell,” May insisted gently to her sister, “It’s just that you don’t show anything but the really intense stuff.”

“Yeah, and where I’m the freakin’ Rosetta Stone, you’re about as hard to read as a book for toddlers. It’s true and you know it, so don’t deny.

“Anyway,” June sighed, running a hand through her hair, “the simplest way to put it is…in a fight, I would be angry. Fierce. Protective. Wild. Determined.”

She wasn’t sure if it was something she said, or the look on her face, but she watched as both Science skeletons shivered. She paused to let whatever it was pass before continuing.

“On the other hand, with just getting us from place to place, it was more…calm. Relaxed. Safe. Almost carefree. It was so freakin’ chill. I kinda liked it, to be honest.”

May smiled, but even as June admitted that she’d enjoyed how easy it was for her to get comfortable with her new-found(ish) magic powers, the teen’s return smile was a bit hollow. Even remembering it, she felt her old worries and anxieties returning. What if something went wrong? What if she couldn’t control how strong she was? What if she accidentally let go? What if she couldn’t react in time to something? What if someone got hurt? What if –

But she shoved them all down, making herself continue to breathe as if she weren’t having a mental freak out. Nothing had gone wrong. No one was hurt. She’d been in control the whole time, and everything had been just fine. Just breathe. It was tiring, always second guessing herself. Keeping up the façade that there was nothing wrong. But she had gotten pretty good at that, acting like everything was fine when the world around her was falling to shit. She’d had lots of practice back on the surface.

When she tuned back in, Science was saying something, but she couldn’t focus on it. Her thoughts still swirled around the concept of their emotions affecting their magic. If May’s green magic manifested outside of a fight by feeling protective or defensive, what would she need to feel to trigger the healing? Then it occurred to her.

“Hey, May? When we first noticed your Soul glowing and the hum? What were you feeling?” June suddenly interjected. The little girl paused to think.

“I felt…um…like Gaster needed to hear those words. Like I knew what to do to comfort him. And that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you do something good.”

“So your usual cocktail of love and kindness. Was there anything else?”

“Hmm…I’m not sure. I don’t remember. What did I even say that made that happen in the first place?”

“Something about the two Gasters not being the same. Something touching and inspiring. That _thing_ you do where you know exactly what to say and say it right from the heart. Or…right from the Soul…I mean, you’ve always been able to do that, but…have we just never noticed before?”

“Um, June? Care to enlighten the rest of us what’s going on in your head right about now?”

“I think you can heal, and that you’ve been able to for a long time. In fact, the first time I ever noticed it, you were about the age I was when I discovered my powers, come to think of it. But that aside, I think you’ve had powers and magic just as long as I have, but for some reason, yours didn’t manifest like mine did. In fact…it’s just like he pointed out. We’re the opposites of each other. I started out with my powers, and we found out about my magic later. With you, we found out about your magic first, and now we’re seeing powers develop as almost a side effect, or a secondary thing. And that theory in mind, since I’m such a powerhouse without my magic, I think your strength comes from your magic.”

“So you think my magic would be stronger than yours?”

“Not necessarily. No, with whatever experience I have, mine is still stronger as far as raw power goes. What I’m saying is that, what you lack in actual power, you make up for in something else. Skill, talent, ability, tact…call it what you will, that finesse that I usually lack is what makes yours so potent. After all, we’re opposites for a reason, right? We’re a team. We make each other stronger, cover each other’s weaknesses.”

May’s face brightened considerably, her easy optimism and cheer never gone for long. She nodded enthusiastically, her heart light and happy to see her sister thinking of her as an equal for once, instead of needing to be protected and looked after.

“Yeah! Yours is all manipulating physical stuff, but mine’s all from the heart, and the connections between people! It’s on a totally different level! And that’s part of what makes us such a great team!”

June nodded, confidence and determination surging through her. She nodded in agreement.

“We’re unstoppable together!”

“I don’t know about that, hun…”

But she was on a roll. May’s enthusiasm couldn’t be contained.

“Nothing can touch us as long as we have each other!”

Okay, she had no argument for that one.

“And besides, after everything we’ve already been through?”

The smile dropped off June’s face quickly, dread coiling in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t superstitious by any means, but those words, those words, the ones no one in their right mind should ever say unless forced by a writer who thought they were funny or some shit. And May was about to say them. June had to do something.

June moved fast, picking up Papyrus and plopping the skeleton child next to her as May continued to speak.

“What else could –”

The teen’s hand darted out and covered her sister’s mouth with an almost comically loud slap, but not without a few of the words getting out. The little girl let out a surprised squeak, muffled by the older girl’s hand.

“ _Mayflower Elizabeth Skies, don’t you dare finish that sentence!_ ”

Rarely did June ever use May’s full name, but hearing it now, the younger ravenette glared at her sister. And right as they heard a door opening, May decided on some swift and immature vengeance.

June’s eyes went wide the second she registered that something soft and wet just pressed itself into her palm. She roared in disgust, yanking her hand back and leaping to her feet so fast, Papyrus had to throw himself out of her way so not to get stepped on.

“ _May!_ What the hell?! That’s disgusting!”

While June flipped out over her now saliva covered hand, May had a matching look of disgust, her tongue sticking out of her mouth.

“ _Aaagh!_ Why does your hand taste so bad?!”

“Because I was just fighting for my life around a bunch of dust and dirt and rocks and stuff! What would possess you to lick me in the first place?!”

“You put your hand over my mouth!”

“ _That was not an invitation for you to lick me!_ ”

“ _Says you!_ ”

\-------------------------------

Grillby just stood back and stared at the two human girls. He’d been heading to the back to check on them after closing up and hearing voices, but right when he’d opened the door, he’d heard both of them screech something unholy. He’d come running to see what was wrong to find…this. The two ravenettes were bickering something fierce, and given the way they were yelling at each other, there were no signs of them stopping any time soon. The fire monster sighed to himself, moving towards the two skeleton children cowering together several feet from the humans.

“Come on, you two. You don’t need to watch this.”

Sans and Papyrus looked up at the fire elemental, then back to the girls before climbing to their feet and taking a hand each.

“what’s going on?”

“The humans just need some space, boys. Let them yell. They’ll calm down after a little bit.”

“WHY? THEY WERE OKAY ONE SECOND, THEN MAY SAID SOMETHING, AND THEY STARTED TALKING LOUDER. THEN SHE…‘LICKED? JUNE? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?”

“i saw what she did. she stuck out her tongue when june had her hand over may’s mouth. like this.”

Before Grillby could stop him, Sans took Papyrus’ hand, placed it over his own mouth, and when his left eye glowed blue, he stuck his tongue against Papyrus’ hand. The slightly taller skeleton child made a face, yanking back his hand.

“BROTHEEEEER!!!”

Great. Now he had two sets of kids yelling at each other. Grillby sighed, pinching between his eyes. It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda prefer to do this part in the end notes, so I'll go ahead and do it here. Because _oh my good gravy_ we're up to 36 kudos and 523 hits! I am so happy! I can't believe we've come this far, and it makes me excited to continue to watch our story grow with you guys. Thank you so much for joining us, and I can't wait to keep this going with everyone! Now, I hope you guys enjoyed this one, and we'll see you next week for more! -S


	26. One Uneventful Talk Later...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaster's text is in his usual ROT2 cipher, translations after the text. Nothing much to say this week, so hope you enjoy this one, and see you next week for more. -S

When the girls finally calmed down again and Grillby helped them put the boys to sleep the next evening, they moved out to the restaurant portion of the building so they could continue their conversation with Science and Gaster without disturbing the sleeping children.

“Right. So where were we?”

“may was on a roll, being her normal positive and enthusiastic self. but as for what we were talking about, you guys were off on a tangent about your magic. you thought may has had her magic as long as you’ve had your powers? there was a lot that didn’t make much sense.”

“Oh, right! I was on about May being able to heal from the start. So all this about our emotions, our…intent was the word you guys used? Anyway, so it’s all about what we’re feeling in the moment we use our magic, right? Well, what I was trying to get at was what you were feeling when you do that thing you do.”

“The speaking thing?”

“Yeah, that. Well, it occurred to me that when you do that, some of your magic reacts to whatever it is you’re thinking or feeling right before you speak, and then your next words are infused with magic. Healing magic, to be specific. But we didn’t notice it until we fell into the Underground because we had no concept of Souls or magic or anything like that. So if you can concentrate on that moment before you open your mouth and say something like that, then you’ll know how to access the other half of your green magic.”

“You really think it’ll work?” May tilted her head, skepticism clear on her face. June nodded resolutely.

“Baby girl, if anyone can do it, it’s you. I just know it. Call it intuition,” she added with a smirk.

Whether or not May believed the older girl was up in the air, but she at least looked more confident when she nodded, screwing her eyes shut and focusing hard. Before long, the air between them was thick with magical energy, a barely audible dual-toned hum emanating from the younger girl. As soon as the hum started, May’s hands flickered to life, her left a shining emerald green, and her right a vibrant purple, matching the two halves of her Soul. Though her eyes were closed, June knew that that same power would be lazily drifting out of May’s glowing irises if she opened them.

But as quickly as she had accessed her magic, May’s hands flickered a couple times before sputtering out entirely. May sighed, opening her eyes, looking dejected.

“What happened? You were doing so well…”

“Sorry, sis. I know you believe in me, but I just…I don’t know if I can do it.”

June frowned. May, the same child who believed there was good in the worst of people, was doubting herself. It was hard to believe someone with such enthusiasm and faith in people had so little confidence in herself. And, thinking back, May had also had very little faith in her own abilities before, with her purple magic. But she’d proven what she could do in a trial by fire with the fight with Muffet. Then it occurred to June: a trial by fire. Maybe that’s exactly what her sister needed to get her going again. It took a bit of effort to keep a mischievous smirk off her face as a plan began to form.

June groaned, slapping a hand over one the few wounds she still had from Gaster’s experimentation. Being so rough with her aching body did actually hurt some, but the twist of pain on her face was mostly faked. May, however, couldn’t tell when her head shot up, worry furrowing her brow.

“June? What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, May…just – _agh_ – m-my injuries…they’re acting up all of a sudden.”

May’s eyes widened, hopping up from her chair and circling around to check on June. Her worry increased when June continued her act, pretending to be in severe pain.

“What-what should I do? Should I go get Grillby? Do you need me to find some monster food? Talk to me! _What do you need?_ ”

“I need…” June huffed, “you to use your magic. Y-your healing.”

“ _What?_ I-I can’t! At least, I don’t _think_ I can. I…”

“ _Please,_ May…try! I – _urgh_ – I need you!”

May hesitated a moment too long for June’s liking, and she decided to take her performance to the next level. The teen added an extra hitched breath and a hiss of pain, doubling over another injury and making herself collapse on the floor. May squeaked in alarm, following her sister to the floor, her hands shaking as she began to panic.

“Oh! What’s wrong? Why is she on the floor?”

June began to mentally swear to herself as the warmth that naturally came off of Grillby washed over her in waves. She’d forgotten that the elemental might actually care if something was wrong with her. But she couldn’t exactly stop now, May was still watching!

“I’m not sure. She was injured yesterday, and she said they were hurting her again! She…she wants me to fix it, but I don’t know how! I don’t think I can!”

“That’s alright, May,” Grillby consoled the little girl, “For now, go behind the bar and get one of my cleaning rags. Then go wet it so we can get her cleaned up.”

“Okay!”

June, from her curled up position on the floor, kept acting until she heard May’s footsteps disappear into the back of the building. Then she sat up and looked hard at a very surprised Grillby.

“June, wha-”

She clapped a hand across Grillby’s face where she assumed his mouth was, hoping to silence him. His surprise worked in her favor, as he stayed quiet after her sudden motion.

“I’m not actually in pain,” June whispered urgently. Grillby looked hard at her, to which she quickly crumbled, not having the time to argue.

“Okay, maybe a little, but that’s beside the point. I’m fine. I’m just trying to get May to use her magic. Just play along, okay?”

Grillby seemed to take a minute to consider it, then nodded. June released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, removing her hand from his face. Only just then did it occur to her that he probably should have burned her, but there was no damage to her hand when she examined it. Now it was her turn to look at him in confusion.

“How…?”

But before she could get an answer, May burst back through the door, a washcloth in her hand. June instantly ducked back into her curled up position and went back to acting like she was in pain.

“Okay, here’s the damp cloth!”

“With water?”

“Yep!”

“Then you’ll have to clean her up. If it’s water, I can’t touch it.”

“Oh, right. You’re fire, this is water. Okay. Help me hold her still then.”

Grillby nodded, and June pretended it hurt her to move, actually flinching when Grillby’s hand landed on the arm that had been burned in the simulated fight. Flashing back to it, she instinctively pulled out of his grip, hissing.

“Oh gosh! Um! Don’t…don’t touch that arm, Grillby,” May warned, realizing what had happened. “She um…had to fight a simulated version of you, and…”

Grillby leaned back, his flames crackling a little, but didn’t say anything in response. June wished she could apologize, but she figured she could make it up to the elemental later. Now, she needed to stay focused on her sister.

“My-my arm is the worst,” June whined, not totally lying. The burn there wasn’t as severe as it had been, but it was by far the most extensive of her injuries, and it hurt the most out of all of them.

May turned her attention back to her sister, dutifully wiping down the affected area as gently as possible with the barrowed rag. June had to bite back a sigh of contentment at how wonderful the cool damp cloth felt against her burned and grimy skin. Seeing how well May took on the role of a healer, June whined in mock pain with renewed determination. May hesitated at the sound, but continued to clean the teen’s arm gingerly.

“Is there anything you can do for her, Grillby?” the little girl asked, hardly taking her eyes off her task to even glance up at the flaming man. Her voice was barely above a whisper, her tone bordering on fearful. It hurt to hear her in such pain, and it took a lot of self-control out of both June and Grillby not to assure the child her sister was actually fine.

“No,” Grillby lied, his voice a little stiff and robotic. “I don’t have anything that will help her.”

“Would…would anyone else around here? The shop down the road? The Inn?” The desperation in her voice was clear. Grillby just shook his head, not trusting himself not to blurt the truth.

“May…” June croaked, reaching for her sister. “Your magic…”

“I don’t know if I can!” she sobbed.

“I know you can! Please, just try!”

May shook for a second, her face hidden under the black fringe of her bangs. Then her hands suddenly flickered to life, the glow and hum of her magic stronger than before. When her head snapped up, the magic escaping from her eyes moved with purpose.

“ _Alright! I’ll do it!_ ”

With that, May jumped closer, latching her hand onto June’s arm. Before long, May’s entire body was encased in the bright green glow of her magic, the purple half of her glowing hands and eyes dimming to almost nothing. Then the green magic grew brighter, swirling off her body in wispy tendrils that arced all around, before it concentrated around her hands, the tendrils pulling towards June. Then, in a great pulse of light, the green enveloped June as well, wrapping over not just her arm, but her entire body.

June gasped, but it bottomed out into something between a sigh and a moan as her remaining wounds healed, the feeling being the complete opposite of her own healing. This feeling was calm and soothing, versus the tense and excruciating pain that was her own healing. This was infinitely better, and in that moment, June felt her mind go blank in blissful peace.

May gasped and sighed as well, her other hand being clasped to her chest and accidentally sending some of her own healing back to herself. A relaxed and contented smile flickered across her face as her wounds healed, her mind going blank for a moment.

As the healing magic completed its work, the green light surrounding the girls dissipated in a small burst, looking for all the world like fireworks going off. Rather than fading away, the remaining magic swirled and buzzed around the room like a jar of fireflies had been set loose. When both girls regained their senses, May gasped sharply, the worry coming back with full force. June just smiled a small, lazy grin.

“Oh my gosh! Are you okay? Did it work? How do you feel? Any better?” May jabbered, fluttering around her sister. She stilled when she saw June’s smile.

“I’m awesome. Better than I’ve felt in a long time, actually. Thanks, sis. I knew you could do it.”

May froze, blinking at the sudden change in behavior. When it dawned on her what just happened, her eyes narrowed.

“You…you were never actually hurting.”

The accusatory tone said it wasn’t a question. June sat up, a guilty look crossing her face.

“Uh, well…if it helps, I _was_ kind of achy and sore…and touching the burn _did_ hurt like hell…”

“June!” the little girl cried, climbing to her feet quickly. The older girl winced at the hurt and anger in her sister’s voice.

“I had to! I knew there was no way you were going to be able to use your magic if you didn’t believe in yourself, and the last time that happened, we were fighting Muffet, and it came down to the wire, and you did it! You used your magic exactly like you were supposed to. I figured another trial by fire – or at least, the impression of one – would spur you just like it did last time. And it worked! Now you know how to access your healing magic!”

“But what if it hadn’t worked?” May demanded, shrugging the taller ravenette’s hands off her shoulders and stepping back. “What if I didn’t have healing at all, and only shields? You manipulated my feelings to get what you wanted! I-I thought you were really hurt! I…I thought…I was really scared something was w-wrong…”

May began to cry, the last of the magic in the room fading away as her tears came. June, surprised at first by her sister’s outburst, now felt the weight of what she’d done. She sighed, scooting over to May and pulling the child into her arms. May wanted no part of it, struggling in June’s arms at first, but June held her fast, making her stay put.

“Hey, hey, hey! Hold on now! I’m not…I just don’t want you running off while I talk, okay? So just sit tight for a second. Look, I’m sorry I worried you, okay? I mean it. I am. I knew you had it in you to do more with your magic, but when I saw you didn’t believe in yourself, I knew I had to do something. You are so incredible and talented and so much stronger than you think you are. I know because I’ve seen it. You just don’t have much confidence in yourself. I thought I could help by showing you that you could do it, but that doesn’t excuse how I went about doing it. I shouldn’t have tricked you like that, and I’m sorry I hurt you. It was irresponsible and thoughtless. I’m sorry, baby girl.”

May hiccupped another sob, finally relenting and curling up into her sister’s arms. June just held her there, softly whispering her apologies into the little girl’s hair and shoulder repeatedly. When May finally calmed down, the poor thing was exhausted, practically limp in June’s arms from how tired she was. It had been an eventful day for everyone. Grillby offered to take the girl and get her settled in with the skeleton brothers to sleep. May tried to argue, but her sleepiness won out, and she let herself be lead away by the flame elemental after June shut off May’s watch. She sighed, watching her little sister walk off, then turned her attention back to the screen.

“Sorry about all that guys. I probably gave you quite the scare too.”

“yeah, you had us going there for a bit, to _patella_ the truth. but we caught on as soon as we heard you tell grillby what your plan was. sneaky and a bit underhanded, but effective.”

“Vjqwij, hqt jgt ucmg, K yqwnf rtqdcdna pqv tgrgcv vjcv rctvkewnct uegpctkq.” _(Though, for her sake, I would probably not repeat that particular scenario.)_

“Trust me, I wasn’t planning on it. I didn’t mean to hurt her, but since that’s exactly what I did, it’s not a plan of action I’ll ever willingly use again if I can help it,” she sighed, running a hand through her midnight locks with a guilty look on her face. “But all that unpleasantness aside, now that May’s down for the count, I have something I wanted to talk to you guys about.”

“oh? what’s that?”

“Well, I tried to mention it earlier, but we got severely sidetracked. And honestly, after the day we’ve had, the only reason I’m glad May’s not here for this is because I’m not sure how much more her brain can take.

“Anyway, so the thing I wanted to get to…the Gaster of this world seemed to have a theory about us. Me and my sister. Why we have powers beyond that of normal humans and all? And I knew you guys had something rattling around your skulls about it, but you haven’t said anything to either of us about it. Basically, I wanted to run his theory by you and see if you’d come up with something similar. Or if the guy was just off his rocker or something.”

Science and Gaster nodded, waiting for her revelation.

“He seemed to think we’re mages.”

Science and Gaster both inhaled sharply, glancing at each other. June’s eyes narrowed, her normally piercing gaze turning stern.

“So you _are_ familiar with the idea.”

“that depends. what all did he say about it?”

“He thought it had something to do with our ‘unusual Soul conditions’. You know, how our Souls have two colors to them? And he went on for a while about our Stats, but I can’t say that I was paying the closest of attention to that bit.”

“Qj, yg ctg swkvg cyctg qh aqwt Uvcvu. Aqw ugg, vjg fgxkegu ctg cnuq fgukipgf vq fkuetggvna oqpkvqt aqwt Uvcvu cu nqpi cu aqw ygct vjgo. Vjcv ku yja yg dgecog oqtg eqpegtpgf vjcp wuwcn yjgp pgkvjgt qh aqw ejgemgf kp ykvj wu. Vjkpm qh kv nkmg c jgctvtcvg oqpkvqt. Cu nqpi cu kv ku eqppgevgf vq aqw, yg yqwnf mpqy kh uqogvjkpi jcrrgpgf vq aqw, dgecwug kv yqwnf uvknn tgcf aqwt Uvcvu, gxgp kh aqw ygtg fgcf. Dwv cu uqqp cu vjga ygtg tgoqxgf, yg jcf pq yca qh mpqykpi yjcv jcf jcrrgpgf, kh aqw ygtg kplwtgf...kv ycu swkvg yqttakpi.” _(Oh, we are quite aware of your Stats. You see, the devices are also designed to discreetly monitor your Stats as long as you wear them. That is why we became more concerned than usual when neither of you checked in with us. Think of it like a heartrate monitor. As long as it is connected to you, we would know if something happened to you, because it would still read your Stats, even if you were dead. But as soon as they were removed, we had no way of knowing what had happened, if you were injured...it was quite worrying.)_

“more like anxiety-inducing. but you guys survived somehow, and we really couldn’t be happier that you’re okay,” Science added, a relieved grin crossing his face.

“So…you guys knew about that part the whole time? Okay, three things about that. One, I find it annoying you didn’t feel the need to tell us you were basically spying on our Stats before we even knew what they were. Two, that’s pretty creepy, when you think about it. Three…somehow, it’s kind of reassuring. I’m not even going to pretend I understand why some part of me finds it reassuring, but I do. But all of that is beside the point. I was more hoping you would have some insight on the whole ‘he thinks our dual-colored Souls make us mages’ thing. Especially given a very skeptical part of me wants to just call bullshit.”

Now both skeletons frowned, Science being the first to cave.

“we did theorize that as well, but we had no way of testing it or trying to confirm our suspicions. that’s why we never brought it up to you guys. we didn’t want to present that kind of information to you without knowing for sure.”

“While I can appreciate the thought, it’s still insulting that we had to find out from a twisted and morally blind version of Gaster bent on using us or killing us. Especially since it means that we’re the same as the bastards that trapped all of you down here in the first place. Talk about a slap in the face, guys.”

“Vjcv ku rtgekugna yja yg ycpvgf vq mpqy vjg vtwvj cdqwv kv dghqtg dtkpikpi kv vq aqw. Cu jwocpu, aqw yqwnf cntgcfa dg fkuvtwuvgf. Dwv cu ocigu? Vjgtg ku pq vgnnkpi jqy oqpuvgtu yqwnf tgcev, dwv kv yqwnf egtvckpna dg gxgp oqtg pgicvkxgna vjcp dghqtg.” _(That is precisely why we wanted to know the truth about it before bringing it to you. As humans, you would already be distrusted. But as mages? There is no telling how monsters would react, but it would certainly be even more negatively than before.)_ A look of worry crossed Gaster’s face. Science nodded in agreement, a matching look etched on his skull. June sighed, setting her lips in a blood-red line.

“Great. So we’ll have to be even more careful than before. Somehow, I’m not that surprised. But that’s still shitty. Not the part about monsters reacting negatively to us, that part I get. Honestly, couldn’t say that I’d blame them. After all, war with the humans or no, it was mages that sealed you guys in the Underground. The shitty part is that it makes us no better than the magical assholes who put you guys in this position.”

“that’s not true! yes, most monsters will think that, but it doesn’t make it true. fact of the matter is, you aren’t them. it comes back to intent again. just like with your Souls and magic, it makes a difference. the mages from back then intended to harm us and make us suffer by trapping us here. but you two are doing everything in your power to help us, help everyone, in all the universes! you may share the title with them, but you both are a far cry from what they were. please don’t ever think that way. you or may.”

Science spoke with such passion and conviction, it caught June a bit off guard. And really, she was touched by his words. It reminded her that she and May had more than just each other in their little family now, and it made her give the first genuine smile in a long time that wasn’t caused by her sister.

But the little shit she was couldn’t pass up an opportunity when she saw one.

“Aw…Science…I didn’t realize you cared so much…” she cooed, earning her a flustered and brightly blushing Science Sans. She laughed, feeling lighter (and really, happier) than she had in years. But there was much she still didn’t understand of their current situation, and if she didn’t get them back on point, she probably wouldn’t get an answer.

“Anyway, thanks for the confidence boost,” she sighed, her tone holding the echoes of her laughter, “but we should get back to the important part of the conversation. So why is it our Souls having two colors has anything to do with us being mages?”

“well, think of Souls as if it were light. for monsters, who can use and/or learn all types of magic, we have white Souls, like how white light –”

“Is a combination of all the colors of the visible light spectrum. Okay, following you so far. And human Souls are stronger somehow?”

“yes, because the magic that all humans have is concentrated in the core of your being, or your Soul. humans usually only have one color, so it’s easier to hold in inside yourselves, protected by flesh and blood and other stuff; whereas monsters are only made of magic, with a little physical matter to keep us whole. our magic is spread throughout our bodies, which is why when we die, all that’s left is dust, the little bit of leftover stuff. anyways, we’re able to do any kind of magic we please, though usually most monsters have a core magic, like humans do, but are still able to learn others. then there are humans with two Soul colors, like yourselves. we theorize that the reason that mages can do magic is because they are closer to monsters in that they have more than one color, and that the more conflicting or complimentary the colors are, the stronger the mage. this may also affect you two with your other powers, and why you are so much stronger than may.”

June nodded slowly, trying to absorb the information dump.

“Let me see if i’ve got this right. So, going back to the light analogy, humans like…specialize in one color or type of magic. That magic is concentrated in our Souls, and since we don’t have all types of magic the way monsters do, we have a more physical presence than monsters. Like how under a white light, all colors are visible, but under a colored light, only certain shades of that color can be seen. And though monsters are naturally good at certain kinds of magic over others, they can learn multiple kinds…unlike humans, who are generally stuck to one kind of magic. Mages don’t occur, however, until a second color is introduced into a human’s Soul somehow, like when two different colored beams of light cross and form a new color. And, if I’m getting this right, a mage’s magic and strength are based on the colors in their Soul. For example, a mage with the colors blue and green wouldn’t be particularly powerful, whereas a mage with green and red would be really strong. And the fact that a mage’s Souls has more than one color makes us more monster-like than human, which is why we not only have access to monster magic, but we seem to have powers and abilities outside of that. Oh, and you mentioned that when monsters die, what little physical matter you have is reduced to dust, rather than being left with just the, ah…empty meat shell like humans,” June winced, adding it as an afterthought. “Did I miss anything?”

“nah, that seems about it. glad you could make sense of my ramblings.”

June shrugged, a little smirk playing at the corner of her lips.

“What can I say? I was bored in school. They didn’t have classes advanced enough for me.”

“After all that’s happened over the past few days,” Grillby’s voice suddenly crackled form over June’s shoulder, startling her slightly, “you’re _still_ up and about?”

June glanced sheepishly up at the flame monster. He’d caught her the night before not resting at all (despite desperately needing to) and since then he’d kept a watchful eye on her, not-so-subtly pointing out every so often that she should get some sleep.

“Yeah. Sorry, Grillby. Can’t always help it. Kind of an insomniac.”

The elemental shook his head at her, annoyed sparks showering over her.

“Well, that’s about to change. You _need_ to sleep. Rest and recuperate. Wrap up what you’re doing and head that way, missy.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just a couple more things, then I’ll go to bed,” she answered, waving him off. He huffed and stayed where he was, knowing that as soon as he turned his back, she’d stay up all night again. June turned back to her watch, mentally apologizing for how confusing the rest of the conversation would be to him, but needing take care of it before she headed off to do anything else.

“While I’d love to talk nerd some more, I’ve kinda got an audience here watching me like a hawk, so let’s keep the rest of this brief. Have you guys made any progress locating Error or finding out where is hidey-hole is?”

“Yg jcf c nqem qp yjgtg Gttqt ycu ncuv, cpf ukpeg jg jcu oguugf ykvj rtgxkqwu yqtnfu vq vta cpf dtgcm vjgo, kv ku uchg vq cuuwog jg jcu fqpg kv vjgtg, vqq. Uqqp chvgt, jg tgvtgcvgf vq yjgtgxgt kv ku vjcv jg iqgu yjgp jg'u pqv twppkpi coqm vjqwij vjg ownvkxgtug.” _(We had a lock on where Error was last, and since he has messed with previous worlds to try and break them, it is safe to assume he has done it there, too. Soon after, he retreated to wherever it is that he goes when he’s not running amok though the multiverse.)_

“So good news and bad news. Great,” she sighed, “I’ll take that as a ‘no, we have no idea where it is he runs off to.’ At least we have a fix on his last known location. With any luck, we can catch him in the act of whatever it is he does to these places and stop him from doing anything else. In the meantime, we have a mess to clean up. What’s the number?”

“universe number two-oh-four,” Sans supplied as June found a pen and jotted it down on a scrap of paper. She hummed softly, affirming she heard and understood him.

“Alright. Any idea what he’s been up to since we’ve been busy?”

“as usual, no idea. but we do have some information on that one that you’ll find useful.”

“Lay it on me.”

“June…”

“Almost done, Grillby. Just hang tight for a hot second.”

Chuckles erupted from the device, and Grillby paused, sighing and shaking his head.

“I should have seen that coming.”

“Didn’t really think about it before it was just out there. Sorry.”

“ah, june?”

“Right. Ugh, keeping up with two conversations at once is annoying. Go ahead, guys. I’m listening.”

June set to work copying down the information Science and Gaster gave her, occasionally making noises to let them know she was still there and listening, even if they couldn’t see her while she wrote. Once finished, Grillby snatched the pen and paper out of her hand and stuffed them back in her bag for her, tapping his foot impatiently and giving her an expectant look. The teen sighed, getting up from her seat finally.

“Thanks for all the info, guys. Now that we’ve got that taken care of, May and I will set out for the new universe once we’ve gotten things squared away here. In the meantime, you know the drill. Keep us posted about Error, call if you think of anything that’ll help us, yada yada yada. I’m being forced to call it a night, so I’ll catch up more when I can. G’night, guys. Watch yourselves.”

“Ucog vq aqw, Lwpg. Igv uqog tguv. Chvgt gxgtavjkpi aqw dqvj jcxg dggp vjtqwij, K co swkvg uwtg aqw pggf kv.” _(Same to you, June. Get some rest. After everything you both have been through, I am quite sure you need it.)_

June gave them both a grateful smile a little wave before shutting off the communication feature, the fire elemental beside her herding her to the back again for some much needed sleep. As much as she hated to admit it, even she couldn’t keep going forever without a break. Stifling a yawn as he went about getting her settled, she mumbled a thank you before drifting off on her own.


	27. Downsizing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, Book_Warrior7 here! So, I'll be posting this time, since I have a really old copy of the fic. I tried to get this out earlier but it's been a crazy busy week... Well... hope y'all enjoy and see ya later! Or read ya later, if you leave a comment

Early the next morning, once everyone was up and around, the girls sat down Sans and Papyrus and explained to them about the girls’ situation and why they would be leaving soon. Grillby, for his part, pretended not to be in the corner listening to everything the girls said. That done, June had May take the boys out to play so she could talk to Grillby alone (and also to cheer them up). Once she cornered the flame monster, he looked over at her nonchalantly, waiting for her to speak. When she didn’t, he sighed, putting down the cleaning rag he was using and turning to face her. 

“You knew I was listening, didn’t you?”

“Yup.”

“So you’ve probably heard all the arguments for why you shouldn’t be chasing a homicidal lunatic.”

“I don’t know ‘bout all of them, but a good chunk, yeah.”

“And nothing I say is going to convince you to change your mind?”

“Nope.”

Grillby sighed again, his flames burning a little brighter and reaching a little higher in irritation. June was careful to hide the wince at his action, still not totally over the fight she’d had with the simulation Grillby.

“Look, I don’t like it very much either. If it were up to me, I’d be flying solo. I hate the idea of May being in harm’s way like this. But if it weren’t for her, I’d probably be stranded somewhere with no idea what to do or worse at least three times over. Probably more, actually,” she added with a shrug, leaning back against the bar. “So like it or not, we’re both needed for this.”

“I imagine that’s something you’ve had to say often,” Grillby replied softly after a pause. June sighed, tipping her head back and closing her eyes, her midnight hair spilling onto the bar.

“More often than I’d like, that’s for damn sure. And don’t even give me the stink eye for that one, Grillbz. The kids aren’t even around to hear me.”

At this, she cracked an eye open enough to glance over at the fire elemental, who scowled at her for swearing. Her dark lips curved into an amused smirk, closing her eye again and relaxing against the bar. But the smile quickly gave way to a distant and thoughtful expression as her mind wandered.

Magic, mages, monsters…a month ago, if someone had told June her life would consist of chasing a crazed super-powerful glitchy skeleton bent on destroying all the universes parallel to her own, saving a race of people she didn’t previously know existed multiple times because of said skeleton, and doing things like chat up a being made of magic fire that could choose whether or not he hurt her by simple contact, she would have laughed in their face and called them insane. But now…

The teen sighed, sagging further against the counter of the bar. She briefly wondered if this wasn’t all some long and drawn out fever dream, or the stress of the custody battle on top of all the shit she had to deal with on a day-to-day basis had finally broken her and she’d gone crazy. But she shook her head, dismissing the ideas. No, she knew the difference between her dreams and reality. She knew what crazy looked like, what it felt like. She was very much awake, very much sane, and all of this was very much real. How then, she pondered, had she not lost it by now? Everything they’d seen and been through up to this point…it was all so much for any one person to handle. Too much. Maybe that was it. There was just so much going on, her brain had gone into shock and would catch up with her eventually. Or maybe it was because she had learned to take everything one day at a time and not dwell on any one thing long enough for it to bother her. Her coping mechanism for her everyday life before the Underground coming to her rescue. Of course, it could have been both. There was no real way to know.

It took Grillby snapping his fingers in June’s face to bring her back to earth, which startled her into nearly falling to the floor trying to get away from him. When she got her breathing under control again, she did her best to ignore the embarrassed flush across her cheeks and glanced over at the fire monster, tucking her hair behind her ear out of nervous habit.

“Are you okay June? You’ve been so jumpy around me lately…”

Shit. Well, no use trying to keep the truth from him now. Still, June looked away from him guiltily.

“I’m alright. I just…something Gaster – er, this world’s Gaster – put me through was a series of fights. All of them against monsters. And all of them were simulated, so the monsters weren’t real. At first, it wasn’t a big deal. The enemies weren’t very tough, even if I was exhausted and my powers were out of whack. But they got stronger and stronger as I got weaker and weaker, and, well…I know May mentioned it. He…he made me fight you. Well, it obviously wasn’t the real you, but…it was real enough. And that burn on my arm you saw last night? That…that was from fighting you. It…it still…” she sighed, not meeting his gaze. “I guess it got to me more than I thought. Some part of me is really wary of you now, and while I hate it, I can’t help it. It’s instinct. I’m sure with time, I’ll get over it, but…I’m sorry. I feel like shit for reacting this way. I know you’d never hurt us. I…ugh…”

Finally out of anything to say that wouldn’t be repeating herself, she trailed off, staring at the floor in shame and guilt. It took a moment, but there was a soft shuffling sound, then Grillby’s warmth standing next to her. She was getting so used to how comforting that feeling was, and yet to so sharply contrasted what she felt when she actually looked at him…

“And…when we fought…did you…?” 

June started to look up, but upon remembering the smoldering pile of ash, armor, and dust she’d left before the fake Grillby had dissolved into a mass of pixels, she just knew she couldn’t look him in the face. Instead she curled tighter in on herself, glad that it was just the two of them in the bar right then.

“I don’t know that you want the answer to that,” she whispered.

That was answer enough, apparently. There was a long pause where neither one said or did anything. Then June’s head jerked up, feeling a warm hand delicately resting on her shoulder.

“You did what you had to to survive. No one can blame you for that. Not even me.”

June’s eyes were wide with surprise and confusion. Grillby was looking at her with a mixture of sadness, sympathy, understanding, and above all else, compassion. Before she even realized it was happening, tears stung the corners of her eyes, and Grillby was wrapping her in a hug.

It took the teen a bit to recover, but when she did, Grillby finally let her go.

“I have to open the bar soon,” he murmured gently, rubbing her arm soothingly. “I don’t want you to have to leave, but…”

“May and I’ll have to anyway. We have to get a move on. No rest for the wicked and all that,” she added with a weak laugh, “But, um…we…we can’t take the boys with us. The watches are designed to transport the wearers. Passengers are a no-go. But we can’t exactly leave them on their own…”

“I think I see where this is going. I’ll look after them. Don’t worry about a thing. They’ll be safe with me. But you and May…what will you do?”

“What we’ve been doing. Go to the universe that needs fixing, fix it, hope Error shows up for a throw down. If he runs off or doesn’t show up, well…rinse and repeat steps one and two.”

Grillby frowned, his flames shifting and popping in thought.

“And you’re absolutely sure –”

“Yes, Grillbz. You aren’t going to convince either of us to change our minds. But points for effort,” June smirked, unable to hide her amusement. Underneath the sass, however, was genuine happiness, touched that he cared enough to worry and try to convince them not to do crazy things. The fire elemental sighed, shaking his head.

“Worth a shot. When are you planning on heading out?”

“As soon as we wrangle the kiddos. We’ll wanna do the jump somewhere private, and I’m sure Sans and Paps will wanna say goodbye, at least to May. It’s always hard to leave. Everyone gets so attached to her. Not that I can blame them. She’s such a sweet kid. Can’t really be helped.”

Grillby nodded, heading towards the front to call the kids back inside. There was a burst of laughter as all three raced past the flame monster, May leading the charge. She let out a squeal as she ducked and dove for cover from their frozen projectiles, the boys laughing just as much as she was. June and Grillby shared a look of confusion and amusement. Kids.

“Alright, that’s enough,” June called, halting the rain of snowballs mid-air and sending them back out the still open door. All three complained, but assembled before the grown-ups, looking up at them expectantly. May and Sans panted, breathless from playing and trying to keep up with Papyrus, and May, being the only one able to actually do so out of the three, was ruby-cheeked and shivering from the cold.

“Geez, you’re all soaked and chilled to the bone,” June winked, smirking at her own joke. She earned a round of laughs from all, even Papyrus and Grillby.

“At least you all had fun,” Grillby smiled, closing the door and going to fetch towels for the kids. Sans and Papyrus weren’t as likely to need them as May, but it was still a good idea. June helped him dry the smiling kids off, since Grillby and water didn’t mix well, then turned back to them with a sad, serious expression.

“Alright kiddos. I’ve got news. Science and Gaster have a new universe that needs help. So that means me and May have to head out. I know, it sucks,” June added, watching the kids’ faces fall, “but a hero’s work is never done, and since we’re the heroes of this little story…you get the idea.”

“can’t we come with you?”

“Afraid not, Sans. The watches only work on the people wearing them. That, and…I think I speak for both of us when I say I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you two on our watch.”

May nodded sadly, slipping her hand in Sans’ and giving it a gentle squeeze. The look her gave her was one of absolute heartbreak. The older ravenette knew, of course, about his crush on the younger girl, but seeing him look so upset over May…oh, he had it bad. And there was a good chance he’d never see her again. Ouch.

“I WISH YOU DID NOT HAVE TO GO,” Papyrus muttered sadly. May flicked her gaze between the two skeletons.

“I know. I wish I could stay, too. But there are people who need us to help them like we helped you. And June’s right, even if we could take you with us…I’d never forgive myself if anything happened.”

Sans looked ready to cry, but wrapped the little girl in a hug, joined a second later by his brother.

“WAIT! WHERE WILL WE GO WITHOUT YOU?” the slightly taller skeletal child asked, stepping back from May.

“You’ll be staying here with Grillby. He’s a good friend. He’ll watch out for you like we would. And I know that look, Sans. I can’t blame you for being wary. But listen to me very carefully. I trust Grillby to take care of you guys for us. And that means something.”

“It really does,” May nodded, “June doesn’t trust other people easily like I do. So if she says she trusts someone, it means you can trust them, too.”

Sans hesitated, but nodded, willing to take a chance if both girls said it was okay. They both gave him a reassuring smile, and just as Papyrus turned to hug June’s legs (the best he could do, since she currently towered over him in height), May swept Sans up in another hug.

“I’ll miss you, Sansy,” she whispered to him.

“i’ll miss you too,” he whispered back, hugging her fiercely. When they parted, he swiped at the corners of his eye sockets, turning to June and hugging her, too.

“promise you’ll keep her safe?”

“I’m her big sister. It’s my job to do exactly that,” the teen replied, her tone as soft as his. Taking this to mean she was promising in her own way to protect May, Sans nodded against her legs, finally letting go and backing off. May went to her sister’s side, readying her device to input the new universe.

“Two-oh-four,” June supplied easily, dialing her own to the correct number as May did the same. “Ready?”

May nodded, taking a breath to shake off the sadness of the moment and strengthen her resolve. June nodded back, both girls poised to hit the switch. They counted to three like usual, pressing the buttons to activate the transport function simultaneously. The usual levitation set in, wrapping them in blinding light just as the boys called out their goodbyes.

“There are no goodbyes!” May declared, tears in her eyes as she said it.

“Only see you laters,” June finished for her, giving them a confident half-smile before both girls flinched at the brightness of the light. When it faded, the girls gasped as they fell…all of a few feet, both of them landing in a bed of flowers.

“Oh. Well that was more pleasant than usual,” May said, her surprise genuine as they both got up and looked around.

The room they stood in was massive, with vaulted ceilings so high, they appeared to have a skylight, giving the illusion of dappled sunlight filtering into the room. And everything popped with color, from the orange tiled floor at the doorways, to the fresh grass spanning the entire room; from the regal-looking purple and gold chairs in the center, to the bed of golden flowers they stood in surrounding the chairs and occupying most of the floor space. Even the walls were interesting to look at, painted a bright and cheery yellow like the flowers, stained glass windows bathing the room in warm colors. Even June had to admit she was looking around in child-like wonder at everything.

“Where are we?” May finally whispered, as if speaking too loudly would shatter the majesty and tranquility of the room. June shook her head, but realized a second later the motion was useless.

“No clue…” she replied. Then her own voice registered in her ears and she stopped looking around, a stab of fear and confusion going through her. She knew her voice. Her voice was low for a female, with a touch of natural gravel to it, making it so her growling and seductive deep purrs didn’t damage her voice. But what had come out of her mouth was almost the same as May’s higher pitched, distinctly more feminine voice. Her voice hadn’t sounded like that since –

Her train of thought derailed as her eyes landed on her sister. She should have had to look down to see the younger girl, but in fact, she was having to look slightly up. The current of fear and confusion hit her again as she realized this, and just as May turned to her, she looked down at herself.

June gasped in shock. Most of her tattoos were gone, as were some of the scars they were meant to cover. She stared at her bare arms until she heard May gasp, her head jerking back up.

“June?” the younger ravenette cried, her voice still a half whisper. Her hands had flown to her mouth in shock, slightly muffling her voice, but her wide icy eyes did enough talking for her. “What…what happened to you?”

“I don’t know! I can’t see myself very well, thank you very much!” she squeaked, slapping a hand over her mouth, as if that would make the strange voice stop. May stepped closer and hesitated, but reached out and took the older ravenette’s hand, pulling her towards one of the two exits out of the room.

“We have to find a mirror. Now. You…I…you have to see it for yourself.”

June nodded in agreement, but almost jerked to a halt as they stepped into the next room. It too, was impressive, with similar high vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, and warmly colored tile flooring. But this room – hallway, really – was nothing but gold. Even the pillars lining the hall were gold, though if that was just a trick of the light or real was up for debate. While a bit gaudy in her tastes, it was still breathtaking. But May seemed more or less unaffected by the pretty golden hall, as she continued her march to the end of the room and into the next. From there on out, everything was grey and dull, as if whoever had designed the area had decided to save all their colors for those two rooms. But, somehow, as they walked, the walkway looked familiar. When the approached a set of stairs, it struck June why this looked familiar, and she had to yank on her sister’s hand to get the now taller girl to stop.

“What?”

“Doesn’t this place seem familiar to you?”

“A bit, but I’m more worried about what the heck’s happened to you than the architecture right now.”

“Well, yeah, I’m pretty freaked out, too. But this place…it looks like the stairs and hallway under Toriel’s house.”

May took a second to think on that, looking around her more carefully this time. When she noticed June was right, her eyes bugged out, then her expression shifted to confusion.

“But…it’s not the same…the colors are all different.”

“So? We told Toriel we wouldn’t come back to the Ruins, and for whatever reason, here we are in a place that looks an awful lot like the Ruins. I’m not sure we should go up there.”

“But I can tell this isn’t the Ruins. The Ruins didn’t have rooms like those after this hallway. It was the forest before Snowdin, remember? I don’t know why it looks like Toriel’s place, but I don’t think it really is Toriel’s.”

“Then where are we, May? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure we’re still in the Underground. Besides Outer, that one fact has remained the same throughout all the universes. And for the most part, we’ve been all over the Underground. There aren’t that many places left that we haven’t been. Like, we know Snowdin like the back of our hands. We explored the hell out of the Ruins. Muffet showed us most of Waterfall. We haven’t seen anything really of Hotland besides what little is right in front of the Lab, and then we’ve seen just about every inch of the Lab. We’ve seen bits and pieces of the Core. Where’s the one place we haven’t been?”

“The capital, which would have the king’s castle. We saw that from Waterfall,” May replied after a moment of thought, then gasped as she realized what June was getting at. “Wait! You think we might be in the capital?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure. What I _am_ sure of is one thing: either we’re back in the Ruins and the layout is completely different than we remember, or we’re in the capital – maybe even the palace itself. Either way, if we go up those stairs, it could end really badly.”

“Or we can slip in, find a mirror, and slip out before anyone even notices we’re here.”

June tried to protest, but May was determined, shushing her sister and pulling her up the stairs slowly. Finally June quieted, not wanting to be caught by anyone. As they reached the top, the girls were greeted with more familiar surroundings. They hissed at each other there on the stairs for a minute, bickering softly, until they heard voices coming closer. They stayed on the stairs, not having anywhere else to go, but ducked out of sight.

“ARE YOU SURE HE WILL BE THERE?” a familiar voice rang out, stopping them both. What was Papyrus doing here?

“I am fairly certain,” replied a sweet and delicate female voice, one the girls didn’t recognize. “I have caught him sneaking off to look at the barrier every time he visits lately. It worries me, _tibia_ honest.”

Papyrus groaned at the pun, while the female voice laughed, the joke clearly made at his expense.

“But before we go get him, I must fetch something to help distract him. The barrier seems to depress him, and I rather like having him be his usual cheery self.”

“VERY WELL. I SINCERELY HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT,” Papyrus sighed, fading as the pair walked away. The girls waited there on the stairs until they heard the click of a door closing, then darted from the stairs and into the hallway. May gestured for June to follow her into the hallway where Papyrus and the mystery female voice had disappeared, spotting a mirror. June tried to silently protest, pointing to the front door, but May was having none of it, pushing her in front of the mirror. When June caught sight of her reflection, she froze, forgetting about everything else.

Staring back at her was a kid around six years old. Same inky black hair, same intense green eyes, same plush dark lips…her skin was littered with scars, somehow paler than her already ivory-colored flesh. She was tall for six, but still smaller than May. And as June reached for the mirror, the girl looking back at her moved to do the same, their fingertips separated by cool glass.

June shivered, seeing what was undoubtedly herself at six years old. Had she always looked this… _soft?_ No, she knew what she was supposed to look like. Tough and strong and badass and scary and sexy. And the little girl staring back at her was most certainly not any of those things. Earlier, she had questioned her own sanity, and she had dismissed it, but…this was too much, even for her. Going from being eighteen one minute to six the next? No amount of logic or magic could convince her of this one.

“W-what…” she finally stammered out, finding her voice again. Though her higher pitch made sense now that she saw her reflection, it still sounded alien to her ears. Too high, too feminine and delicate. But still hers at one time.

“What…” she tried again, a little louder this time. Though she was standing behind her sister, May was still visible because of the mirror, but June still didn’t register the surprise on the other ravenette’s face.

_“What the actual –”_

May darted forward just quick enough to cut off her sister before she shouted the last word, knowing she was about to swear. She had done it once already, but not only did it sound bizarre coming out of the mouth of a six year old, but they were still trying not to get caught, and June’s shouting would undoubtedly draw attention. Thinking fast, May dragged the squirming girl over to a door and flung it open, closing it behind them quickly and quietly. After she locked the door with shaking hands, she went back to June and clapped a hand over the other girl’s mouth again. They both stayed still in the tense silence that followed, waiting for someone to respond to June’s distressed cry. Their patience was rewarded by muffled voices near the door to the room they’d entered and the sound of a few different sets of footsteps. Both girls held their breath, praying the voices and shuffling feet wouldn’t think to check the door to the room they were hiding in. A very stressful couple minutes passed this way, just listening to the voices and feet and waiting for the doorknob to turn and catch against the lock. But it didn’t, and whoever it was finally went away, leaving the girls in peace.

They both sighed, falling to the floor when they relaxed.

“That was too close…” May whispered, not daring to speak louder in case they came back. June nodded, but her mind was still preoccupied. May noticed this and crawled over, putting a gentle hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“June?” 

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

“I…I have no idea. I mean, I knew this world was full of nothing but kid versions of everyone, but…you think Science and Gaster would have mentioned something like this!”

“They probably didn’t know. It’s like Outer told us. Not all the universes are aware of the presence of the others, and though Science was getting close to becoming aware, what sped up the process was us. Technically, they still aren’t travel or communication-enabled yet. We are, thanks to them, but they themselves aren’t. They had no way of knowing that you’d get turned into a kid, and there was no way for the other aware universes to tell them if they knew. And this conversation is not one I ever thought I’d be having,” May added, looking very weirded out by the whole ordeal.

“And you basically just summed up our entire experience in the Underground in one sentence. Nicely done.”

“Hey, no need to get snarky with me. I get you’re agitated, but that’s no excuse to take it out on me.”

“I’m…I’m not trying to, May. I just…I can’t even…my brain is too fried. I’ve put up with so much already without batting an eye, but this…I can’t handle any more. I just – I-I need to adjust to this. Because this is without a doubt the weirdest fucking thing I’ve ever dealt with. I need time to process.”

“Well, I hate to rush you, but we do need to leave before someone figures out we’re here. Think the mental breakdown can wait a few more minutes?”

June wanted to glare at her sister for that comment, but found she couldn’t. It was disturbingly accurate. Instead, she focused on calming the part of her brain that was still trying to panic, and when she couldn’t calm her raging mind, she shut herself off from that part of her entirely. She could deal with that shit later. Finally feeling her heartrate return to normal, she took a shaky breath and nodded to her sister.

May nodded back, going and unlocking the door again as quietly as she could. She then peeked out, opening the door slowly and only enough for her to see. When she motioned the coast was clear, June crept past her and slid right up to what she hoped was the front door. The other girl eased the door to the room they’d been hiding in closed before sneaking over to her sister. It was a little unsettling to realize just how stealthy May could be if she really tried. Then, just as May’s fingers touched the doorknob, thinking they were almost home free –

**“d o n ’ t y o u k n o w h o w t o g r e e t a n e w f r i e n d ?”**

June and May both jumped, turning around quickly. Standing before them was a young Sans, his tone just as dark and foreboding as the first time they’d met him. Eerily enough, the little white lights that normally served as his pupils had gone out, leaving his eyes to resemble two pools of black nothingness in his face. Though both girls suppressed a shudder of fear, it was June who stepped forward, a knowing look on her face.

“You shake hands, right?” she asked coyly, sticking out her hand for Sans to take. This seemed to catch him off guard, as he blinked and the lights came back to his eyes. Then his grin widened, and he latched onto her hand, a comical farting noise splitting the air. June let go, bursting into a fit of laughter with one hand over her mouth, as if to stifle the noise some. May was gripping her sides in the effort not to laugh, but hearing her sister’s helpless giggling, she couldn’t hold it in any longer. Even Sans was laughing, and it eased the tense air from just seconds before. Just then, more monster children came into view.

“Sans? What is so – oh! May, and June! It is good to see you, my friends!” the delicate voice from earlier called, running forward to embrace them. To their surprise, it was Toriel, just lacking her usual height…and just as young as Sans. June had said everyone was child versions of themselves, but neither of them had expected this.

“Toriel? What are you doing here?”

“Never mind that! It’s good to see you, too!”

Sans looked between the girls, clearly confused.

“tori? how do you know them?”

Toriel opened her mouth to answer, then a funny look crossed her face and she shut it, thinking.

“You know, I do not recall. We must have met some time ago for me to have forgotten! I apologize, girls.”

May shook her head, smiling.

“Think nothing of it, Toriel.”

“Yeah. It’s no big deal. People forget stuff all the time,” June shrugged, a smile tugging at her own lips. Toriel smiled widely, then taking a better look at June, frowned again.

“Unless I am mistaken, were you not taller before? And perhaps, older?”

“Yeah, but…honestly, I have no clue what happened. I’m kinda trying not to focus on it right now. If I do, I think I’ll lose it.”

“well, so long as you keep your head about ya, we’ll be-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, June burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. Everyone looked at her strangely, until she settled down enough to turn to May.

“Re-remember when we first met him?” June giggled as she reminisced, darting her eyes over to Sans as a silent gesture who she was referring to.

“And he spooked us so bad that-that I turned around and hit him? And…” She trailed off as another wave of laughter washed over her, a look of realization dawning on May’s face with a grin.

“And he hit a tree! And he made his head come off to scare us!” May laughed in return, holding her hand over her mouth to mask her big grin.

“Keep your head…” June repeated, causing both girls to double over with the force of their laughter. Sans and Toriel just looked at each other, even more confused than before.

“something i missed? pretty sure it wasn’t that funny,” Sans frowned, scratching the back of his skull.

“Ah, it’s, um…it’s nothing. Just accidentally mentioned an inside joke,” May giggled, both finally settling down. Sans shrugged it off, then Toriel stepped closer to the girls, a worried expression on her face.

“Regardless of, ah…whatever that was, I must ask. Why are you both here? The last we spoke, you were leaving the Ruins.”

“Oh, we, um…”

“We heard this is where you were and we wanted to make sure you were okay.”

There was a brief pause where Sans narrowed his eye sockets at them, but Toriel broke into a sweet and happy smile.

“That is so thoughtful of you! Thank you, dears, for coming to check on me. I will be honest, I was hesitant to leave the Ruins, but with the entire Ruins nearly coming down upon my head…I did not have much choice.”

May tried to control the look of shock she knew was attempting to come over her face. June was a much better actress than her sister and they both knew it, so they both unconsciously moved so that June was the center of attention for the monsters, May hiding her too expressive reactions in the background.

“So the Ruins were actually coming down around you? We…we heard rumors, but we weren’t sure. That’s why we came looking for you. If it’s not too much trouble, Toriel… could you tell us what really happened?”

Toriel took a breath and held it, the event clearly still bothering her. But she nodded bravely, waving them to the door.

“I believe I can handle telling the story one more time. But first, follow me. I am sure you would like to meet some of the other monsters and hear their stories as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Credit to the Creators:** We couldn't find a specific creator for Littletale, so (assuming it's community run) this section is for the part of the community that contributed to it. Go you guys!


	28. Let There Be Undyne (And Some Cameos)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, me again. Sorry about the late-ish chapter... I'm not quite used to being the one to upload and I also forgot about it (and if you talk to anyone who knows me, they'll vouch for my terrible memory) but here it is! As always, crazy stuff happens and a cryptic message is delivered, ooh~ so spooky. And I'll let y'all get on to the chapter, see ya next week! -B

The girls followed Toriel outside, Sans and Papyrus (the younger skeleton joining at the last minute) bringing up the rear of the group, all listening intently as she spoke.

“After you left the Ruins, I went about keeping a vigil for other fallen humans, like I always do. But something…I do not know how to explain it, but something was amiss. Something joined us in the Ruins after you left, something with dark intentions. I never saw it for myself, but I heard its voice. And whatever that entity was, it was set on destroying the Ruins. It-it seemed to – it started attacking the walls of the cavern, attacking the ceiling – all I saw was a flash of something thin and blue, but…”

“It’s okay, Toriel,” May said softly, coming up behind the tiny goat monster and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to keep going.”

“Thank you, my dear, but I am afraid I must. I do not know how much you already know of, so I must complete my story.

“As I was saying, I saw…something. But not much, unfortunately, before it began bringing down the cave around me. I was forced to flee, and for a little while, the next chamber was safe. However, the dark thing returned, and began demolishing that chamber too. I evacuated everyone I could, getting most of the monsters from the Ruins to follow me out into the forest beyond the door. As we fled, that dark thing continued its assault, destroying everything in its wake as it chased us from the Ruins. It laughed at us as it blocked the way back. I thought perhaps it just wished to have the Ruins for itself, but I was mistaken. I had hoped briefly that the entity had died in the destruction it caused, but again, I was wrong. Not only does it live, but the Ruins…are gone. Completely and utterly gone, and it seems Snowdin is next. And all the monsters you have seen thus far? All refugees from either the Ruins or Snowdin, fleeing to New Home to seek guidance from Asgore. He is doing his best to keep up hope, but…I am beginning to suspect he does not know what to do about the entity that has invaded the Underground. None of us do. But we have to keep up appearances…for the sake of all monsters.”

Toriel had stopped and turned to them, something hard and strong in her gaze. Something determined. As she’d walked and talked, many monsters had waved to the girls, recognizing them, but all of them looked sad and scared. This sight hardened the girls’ resolve, and they looked at each other. When their passionate gazes locked, they nodded curtly to each other.

“Error.”

“Has to be.”

Toriel looked bewildered, glancing back and forth between the two humans.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Forget about asking Asgore for help, Toriel. That entity that attacked you? We know him. And we know how to stop him,” June answered, her stance shifting from passive to fierce confidence. May nodded, puffing out her chest a little, then deflating as she looked around.

“But, um…this isn’t really the best place to talk about it. Is there somewhere more private we can explain? It’s kind of a long story, and really confusing.”

Toriel opened her mouth to answer, but whatever she had been about to say was drowned out by someone calling her name.

“Lady Toriel! Lady Toriel!”

“Yes? What is it?” she asked patiently as a small cat monster came running up.

“There’s…there’s been a development!” he panted, doubled over from trying to catch his breath. Toriel’s eyes went wide, but she waited for the monster to continue.

“Snowdin is…it’s sealed off, Lady Toriel. The town itself hasn’t been touched, but the paths in and out are gone. Only the Riverperson can still get through, and they are refusing to take anyone to Snowdin. And the thing…it’s on its way to Waterfall!”

Now June and May started, jumping forward at the news.

“Looks like we don’t have time to waste! The explanation will have to wait, Toriel!” June declared, grabbing her sister’s hand and stepping towards the cat monster.

“Wait! You cannot possibly be thinking about taking it on!” the goat-girl declared, looked scared. Sans and Papyrus looked equally shocked, their expressions getting worse as both girls nodded.

“We have to, Toriel. If we had the time to explain, we would, but right now, all you need to know is that we’re the only ones who can stop him. But don’t worry about us. We’ll come back and explain everything once he’s dealt with,” May answered, giving a more confident smile than she felt. The girls turned back to the cat monster, who looked at them with trepidation.

“We need to get as close to this thing attacking the Underground as possible. Can you take us?”

“You’re crazy, you know that, right?”

“Yeah.”

“We get that a lot.”

“As long as you know what you’re getting yourselves into…” the cat monster shrugged, “Come on, little buddies. Er, big buddy, for one of you. Er, um –”

“Just shut up and show us the way,” June growled grumpily, having been so abruptly reminded of her predicament. He nodded nervously, darting ahead of them. The girls ran to keep up, leaving Toriel and the two skeletons scrambling to catch up when they had their wits back.

By the time they reached an elevator, the cat monster was already mashing the button, and Toriel and the boys were finally catching up. 

“It’s probably safer if you guys stay here while we take care of this,” May said, putting a hand out to stop them from coming closer. Toriel shook her head so hard, her ears flopped this way and that.

“We…shall not!”

“tori’s right. we can’t just…let you fight this…whatever it is…on your own,” Sans added, panting from all the running as well. The only ones who didn’t look winded were June, May, the cat monster just stepping into the waiting elevator, and Papyrus. Papyrus pushed Toriel and Sans forward when the girls jumped on the elevator and tried to keep them from boarding as well.

“IT IS TOO DANGEROUS FOR YOU TO BE FIGHTING ALONE! OR AT ALL!! BUT SINCE YOU INSIST, WE MUST ACCOMPANY YOU!! THOUGH…I DO NOT DOUBT THE TALLER ONE CAN HANDLE HERSELF,” he added, which got an annoyed growl out of June. May laughed.

“Don’t mind her. She’s just upset about, um…this,” she ended weakly, gesturing between them. “She’s normally the taller of the two of us. It’ll be part of the explanation later.”

When the elevator opened, all the kids darted through the lobby of a hotel and out to another elevator, clearly part of Hotlands. They rode this one in silence, the tension thick in the air. Once they stepped off the second elevator, the cat monster lead them to a small dock, where a boat waited for passengers, its driver completely hidden by their cloak. He gestured to the boat weakly.

“This is as far as I can take you. They’ll get you to Waterfall. From there, you’re on your own, little buddies.”

May stepped forward, giving the cat monster a hug and a warm smile.

“Thanks. Be careful getting back, okay?”

He nodded, looking shocked she’d been so kind to him. Once all the kids were loaded up into the boat, the cloaked person turned back to them.

“Tra-la-la~ Where would you like to go?”

“Waterfall, please!” May chirped, finally getting settled. The Riverperson nodded then turned back around. The girls cried out in alarm when the boat lurched into motion, speeding away from the dock, but settled when the other three kids had no reaction.

“Does it always go this fast?” May cried over the sound of the rushing water.

“Tra-la-la~ Of course it does. The river is the fastest mode of transportation in the Underground. Tra-la-la~”

“O-oh.”

“never taken a ride with the riverperson before?” Sans smirked. May shook her head.

“We’ve kind of had a lot going on. Haven’t had the chance yet. It’s…kind of exhilarating, actually.”

Sans’ ever-present grin widened at this, clearly enjoying her answer. Then he turned to Toriel, a short chuckle escaping him.

“What’s so funny?” May asked, holding her hair out of the way so she could look at him.

“row, row, row your goat.”

Toriel laughed, Papyrus yelled, and the girls just stared for a second. Then June started giggling, despite herself. May looked amongst them all, for a brief moment feeling like the only adult of the group (forgetting that actually, she probably was the oldest among them).

“ _How_ can you _pun_ at a time like this?”

“Aw, come on, May,” June teased, looking over her shoulder at the other kids. “Don’t let him get your _goat_.”

There was a pause, then May groaned, for the first time, hating her sister’s puns. Toriel started cracking up even harder, and Papyrus screeched angrily. Sans just stared at June, a blue blush slowly forming across his cheekbones.

“Troll-lo-lol~” the Riverperson sang merrily, earning another round of laughs and groans from the kids. They all settled down once the boat eased to a stop next to the dock at Waterfall, however, the gravity of the situation bearing down upon them once more. As they stepped out, May helping all the kids get out safely, the Riverperson turned to the sisters one more time.

“Tra-la-la~ Brothers not of the same blood are harmed by each other’s. Don’t forget. Tra-la-la~”

Before the bewildered ravenettes could do more than stare at the hooded figure, they sped off, leaving the two blinking in confusion after them.

“Did any of that make sense to you?”

“Nope. You?”

“Not a damned word.”

“Figured as much. Okay then. Back to business.”

June nodded in agreement, both children running to catch up to the goat-girl and the two skeletal boys.

When they arrived on the scene, all was surprisingly calm and quiet. The sounds of the glowing water lapping gently at the edges of their pools filled the silence, lulling the area in a sense of tranquility. Toriel was looking around, confused, with the skeleton brothers scratching their skulls.

“I thought he said the entity was here…”

“HE DID, MY LADY!”

“but it’s not here now. or yet. maybe it’s back towards snowdin still.”

“Perhaps you are right. Let us go see!”

“Guys, wait!” May called after them, only close enough to latch onto Papyrus’ wrist. But when she pulled him to a stop, Sans stopped too, then Toriel. June slowed to a trot next to her sister.

“Listen up: May and I know this guy. He’s tough stuff. Like we’ve fought him before and barely got away alive kind of tough. I know you don’t want to, but it really would be better for you guys to hang back. Trust me when I say it’ll most likely save your lives if you don’t get involved right now.”

“And just what will the two of you do then, hmm? Dodge and talk to him until he becomes bored? It may have worked on me, but I do not think that you will find such luck again. I already tried that,” Toriel sighed, folding her arms across her chest.

“Our fight was different, Toriel,” June insisted, frowning, “Surely you remember. I refused to fight back. We both did. But this guy…you show him mercy, he’ll stab you in the back just for a laugh. We’re not backing down with him. We’re not going easy. We can’t.”

“That…surely that does not mean –”

“No. We don’t want to kill him. We just wanna stop him,” May assured Toriel. “Unfortunately, fighting him is the only way to do that, like it or not. So please, for our sakes, either stay here –” – all three monster children agreed that would not be happening – “– or listen to what we have to say on how to fight him.”

When all three stood quiet, clearly waiting for instruction, June sighed, running a hand through her long hair.

“Alright then. First things first: he’s a skeleton, so his attacks are bone based. For the most part. He also has these things called Gaster Blasters, which are these huge skull-like things that fire magic lasers out of their mouths. Avoid those at all costs, because getting hit dead-on with one of those bad boys hurts like no other. Trust me, been there, done that. Then there’s his blue magic. He’s got a special kind that I’ve never seen with literally anyone else. His blue magic manifests itself in the form of strings, and he can manipulate them like a puppeteer. Those are even more dangerous than the blasters, because he snags you in those…it’s over. You no longer have control. You are his plaything, and he will use you against the rest of us, whether that means forcing you to fight us, using you as a shield for himself, or using you as leverage for an escape. Once you aren’t useful anymore…”

June made a quick slash with her thumb across her throat. From the looks on their faces, the gesture wasn’t lost on any of them. She locked eyes with each of them before continuing.

“He also has the power to teleport and rip holes in the fabric of reality. He will use that to his advantage, so if you think you might have him cornered, don’t get cocky. Every fighting tactic, every strategy you’ve ever learned to use on an opponent…throw it out the window, because most of it won’t do you any good. He’s as crafty as he is crazy, so don’t for one second let him fool you. Always go for the blow. And never, ever pull your punches for him, because he won’t do the same for you. Now…you guys know what you’re getting yourselves into. Are you sure you’re up for this?”

They all three hesitated, pale and shaken from June’s description of their enemy. But they all three glanced at each other, then back at the girls and nodded, resolute. The sisters shared a look of their own, but sighed and relented.

“Alright,” May finally concluded, “but don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

“warn them of what?” a voice crowed from the darkness, causing all five kids to jump, “of the big bad glitch?”

Error then stepped into view, the low light of the glowing water and luminescent crystals glinting off his glasses. Wait, glasses? The girls did a double take as the others dropped into fighting stances around them. Neither one of them remembered Error ever having glasses before, or being so young. Was it possible this was a different version of Error altogether?

“hmph. good to see that i’m not the only one with a _little_ problem,” Error sneered, banishing the thought from their minds. Nope, this was the Error they knew and hated, but just like June, he had been transformed into a child for whatever reason. As he stepped closer, both the girls’ Souls pulled free of their chests, painting the dim chamber with the intensity and sheer strength of their light. Blue, purple, orange, and green danced across the different surfaces beautifully, setting an eerie and dramatic stage. Then Error sighed, stepping back.

“while i’d normally relish the opportunity to kill you miserable anomalies, i’m not really feeling it right now,” Error frowned, opening an interdimensional hole next to him. He smirked again when he saw the confusion on all their faces.

“oh, don’t worry. i’ll be back. you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy a slow and painful death later. for now…i’ll leave you with this.”

The kids gasped as he brought forward a small blue fish monster with flaming red hair, the child struggling and thrashing wildly against the blue threads holding them up by their Soul. Error’s grin widened even more.

“i was going to take her back with me just for kicks, but i’m starting to think leaving this _cold fish_ with you is a better idea. have fun, humans,” he taunted, tossing the fish monster at their feet before stepping through the hole. It snapped shut behind him, but the fish-girl still snarled at the open air and lunged for where he’d been. When she missed, she turned her gaze on the five gathered people.

“HUMANS?!” she shouted, her amber eyes narrowing sharply at the girls. Then she seemed to recognize their still exposed Souls, May’s floating lazily in front of her and June’s bouncing on the floor in anticipation of what the monster would do.

“How did HUMANS get this far into the UNDERGROUND?! YOU KNOW WHAT, NEVER MIND!! It doesn’t matter! All that matters is ME bringing YOUR SOULS to King Asgore!! GET READY, PUNKS!!” she cried, a light blue spear materializing in her hands. The girls both switched to defensive positions, but before the fish-girl could even do anything, the three monster children with them stepped between the human girls and the new monster.

“UNDYNE, PLEASE! DO NOT HARM THEM!” Papyrus cried, a worried look on his face.

“PAPYRUS?! You’re DEFENDING them?! WHY?! They’re humans! We need their Souls to break the barrier, remember?”

“YES, BUT…THESE HUMANS ARE FRIENDS OF LADY TORIEL! AND THEY ARE QUITE FRIENDLY! THEY HAVE NOT HARMED ANYONE, AND INSISTED ON PUTTING THEMSELVES IN DANGER TO HELP US! I THINK THAT THESE HUMANS…SHOULD BE TRUSTED, NOT USED TO BREAK THE BARRIER. I THINK WE SHOULD BE THEIR FRIENDS!!”

The fish-girl – Undyne – stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Papyrus, are you crazy? That’s…you’re saying that we should put these humans before our own people! Don’t you want to get out? Don’t you want to see the surface? Don’t you want to be able to grow up? And what about everyone else? Would you deny all that to every other monster in the Underground?”

“stop it,” Sans warned, moving in front of Papyrus, who was looking more and more hurt with everything she said.

“And you! Don’t tell me you’re on their side too! You can’t be. Not when they’re stopping everyone’s hope and dreams from coming true – especially Papyrus’,” she goaded him. June was liking Undyne less and less for trying to turn their friends against them. But the skeletons weren’t having it.

“that’s low, undyne.”

“WHILE I CANNOT DENY THAT YOU ARE RIGHT…I CANNOT CONDONE HURTING THE HUMANS! THEY HAVE BEEN REMARKABLY SELFLESS!! THEY VOLUNTEERED TO FIGHT THE PERSON DESTROYING THE UNDERGROUND, AND TRIED TO WARN US AGAINST DOING THE SAME!!”

“They’re probably working with him! That’s why they’d warn you away from fighting him! And why they volunteered to fight him – they thought they’d be able to get him alone so they could work out details of their MASTER PLAN! Just like in human history!! Though…”

“Though what?” May pushed gently when Undyne paused, a confused look on her face as she lowered her spear slightly.

“There’s something I don’t get. Sans…he looked just like you. Only, in different colors. And with glasses. What’s up with that?”

“Actually – Undyne, right? – actually, Undyne, we can explain that,” June interjected, sliding out from behind the three monster kids protecting the girls. Undyne glared fiercely at the green-eyed girl, then summoned more spears into the air surrounding her.

“I’m sure you can, human…BUT I DON’T CARE!! I don’t care WHO you’re friends with or what you’ve done to corrupt the others – they’ll thank me once you’re DEAD and your SOULS has been delivered to ASGORE!”

With these words, Undyne launched the floating spears at June. June, ever keeping a level head, flipped around and dodged with ease, drawing the pale blue projectiles away from the others, though all but May cried out in alarm to see the two of them fighting.

“Well, you _should_ care what we have to say, because the information we have could save the entire Underground!” June replied between jumps.

“Your Souls will save the Underground!!”

“I’m sure they would, but that wouldn’t get rid of Error. And he almost kidnapped you, ya know. It was us showing up to stop him that made him rethink kidnapping you. You owe us, Undyne.”

“I DON’T OWE YOU SQUAT, PUNK!!!”

“Keep telling yourself that. In the meantime, we’ll be busy making sure Error doesn’t destroy any more of the Underground.”

“I could’ve handled him! I was just waiting for my moment to strike!!”

“Sure. Being tied up in his strings like that, all helpless and right where he wanted you – I’m sure you had it all under control. You totally didn’t need our help.”

“I DIDN’T!! I WOULD’VE KICKED HIS BUTT!! JUST LIKE I’M GONNA KICK YOURS!!!”

“Yeah, and you seem to be doing a great job of that right now.”

“ARRRRRRGGH!!!”

Through it all, June’s Soul kept up with her, bouncing and zig-zagging to dodge Undyne’s spears, the flexible young girl making it look effortless to avoid being hit by the fish-monster. Still, the tension was thick in the air, the four watching parties shouting encouragement to June and trying to convince Undyne to stop at the same time. Finally, Sans turned to May and tugged on the hem of her shirt for attention.

“does your sister have a death wish or something? because the way she’s taunting undyne…”

“No, she’s just…I know it seems crazy to egg her on like that, but I’m sure June knows what she’s doing. Besides, she seems to be doing okay. But, um, just so I know…how tough is Undyne, anyway? So I know what to expect if June gets hurt or something,” she added, a nervous edge to her voice.

“well, uh…what do you know about combat down here?”

“What do you mean?”

“well, for example…do you know how to check a monster’s stats?”

“No, we don’t,” May replied, her eyes wide with interest. “I didn’t even know we could do that! Wait, why do you ask? Is that important to Undyne in some way?”

“sorta. they don’t actually mean anything to her, but they’ll tell you how strong she is. you know how to read stats?”

“Kind of? I mean, June and I had ours read to us before we really knew what Stats were, so…”

“really? what are yours? wait, hold on. your Soul is still exposed from the confrontation. i can show you how to check stats with that.”

“Oh, okay.”

Sans then explained that, to check someone’s Stats, you had to choose to Act, then concentrate on the opponent. When he demonstrated, his brow bone rose in surprise.

“What?”

“i just…wasn’t expecting your stats to be so low.”

“I know. I mean, I’m not sure what I would have expected them to be, but…a two and a four were not what I would have guessed they’d be. But I don’t really mind. I mean, what I lack in physical…anything, really…I make up for in magical strength!”

“huh? what do you mean?”

“Oh, I guess it wouldn’t be obvious,” May smiled apologetically, proceeding to explain the theory about the girls being mages and their respective magics. Sans stared at her with wide eye sockets, like he was unable to believe what he was hearing.

“that’s…holy crap,” he said softly after she finished explaining. May nodded.

“And it would make sense for why we have such weird Stats. I mean, mine are so low, but June’s are really high! I mean, it might be hard from here, but you should check her Stats if you can…assuming they haven’t changed from being turned into a little kid.”

Sans nodded slowly, finally tearing his gaze from the blue-eyed ravenette to try and keep track of June’s Soul. He gave it a minute before giving up and shaking his head.

“i don’t know if it’s the distance or the fact that she’s moving too much for me to get a read on her, but i can’t see her stats.”

“That’s okay. I’ll tell you what hers are. Let’s see if I can remember this right,” she added, closing her eyes to try and remember. “HP is two thousand, AT is one hundred, and DF is fifty. Oh, and her EXP is at zero, and her LV is two. I think. I might have missed something.”

Sans stared at her again, his usual grin slack from shock.

“that’s unbelievable. how are her stats that high? and how is that her LV is at two if she hasn’t hurt anyone?”

“Pretty crazy, huh? Like I said, the idea is that us being mages has something to do with our weird Stats. And as for her LV…I don’t know. I’ve been with her from the moment we got down here, so I know she hasn’t hurt anyone to raise it while we’ve been here. But…that would mean it was like that before we got here, and I can’t think of any reason it’d be higher than one. She can be pretty violent sometimes, but she doesn’t kill people. She hates the idea of actually taking a life. She’ll beat you to a pulp, sure, but…well, you get my point. Anyway, it _is_ really weird, even for us. We’ll have to ask her if she knows what that’s all about once this is over.”

Sans nodded, going back to watching Undyne and June go at it, the reason they’d brought up the Stats forgotten. While the two were talking, June had continued to taunt Undyne, making her attacks come faster and faster, but the athletic girl was able to dodge every one so far, even if a few were close calls. Really, as difficult as Undyne was, she was still nothing compared to Error, so June wasn’t struggling like she could have to keep out of the fish-girl’s path. Undyne had finally gotten sick of just using her airborne spears to attack, so she had come slashing and stabbing at June at the same time with her hand-held spear. When June swayed her thin body out of harm’s way again, her Soul zipping between the spears embedding themselves in the ground around her, Undyne let out a ferocious roar and swung her spear through June’s Soul. She gasped, but was surprised to find she’d taken no damage. Instead, her Soul changed to a dark forest green, leaping back up in front of her chest to hover there, a thick green shield materializing in front of it.

“HA! GOT YOU NOW, HUMAN!!” Undyne crowed triumphantly. “My green magic makes it so that you can’t get away! Now you have to sit there and TAKE ALL MY ATTACKS!!”

June frowned, trying to take a few steps back as Undyne got closer to her, but like Undyne had said, she couldn’t move. And since she didn’t have a choice anymore, June gritted her teeth and stood her ground, Undyne unleashing her first wave of flying spears. June willed the shield to protect her, and it did, widening to make the spears bounce harmlessly off it. It didn’t take long for June to discover she could pivot in place, thus changing which way the shield faced as she changed her direction. Well, being a captive audience, June thought maybe Undyne might be more willing to listen now.

“Undyne, I need you to listen to me for a minute, okay?”

“And WHY would I do that? You’re the ENEMY. I don’t care what you have to say!”

June bit back her snarky comment as she twisted around to move the shield. Antagonizing the fish-monster was what had led to this. Making her angrier wouldn’t help matters.

“I already told you, we have information that will save the Underground! But I need you to actually listen to me instead of arguing when I tell you.”

“NO WAY!! I’m not trusting anything you say, ‘cause you’re only doing it to save your own skin!”

“Maybe so, but wouldn’t it benefit you to hear me out anyway? On the off chance I’m _not_ lying through my teeth?”

Undyne paused, blinking and staring at June. She had a point and she knew it. Strategically, it was better to hear her out than to disregard what she had to say, lying or not. But if Undyne wasn’t willing to listen…

“You’ve got a point, human. I’m listening. But if I decide you’re lying to me, I’ll kill you where you stand!!”

“And I would deserve it. Thank you, Undyne.”

“Don’t thank me yet, punk. Just start talking.”

June nodded, proceeding to explain to her everything the girls had been through up until then, sparing no details. The whole time, the fish-monster stood there, taking it all. When June stopped talking, there was a long pause, everyone waiting for Undyne’s reaction. Finally, she glanced over at the spectators, directing her gaze to Toriel and Sans in particular.

“How much of that is true?”

“I…am not sure…” Toriel replied first, looking perplexed. “It is true that I do not remember specific details about how we met, but much of what she said where I am involved I do recall, including our own fight. Which is why I remembered June to be older and taller than she is now. My goodness, that suddenly makes much more sense!”

“yeah, and i can confirm that i had no idea who they were when they first got here. i wonder why it is that skeleton monsters seem to be the only ones who can’t remember them across the universes…”

“Yeah, we have no idea why that is either. It’s pretty weird, though,” May piped up.

“Perhaps it is because skeleton monsters are closer to humans than other monsters. It does not make it any less strange, however, that others like myself and Muffet would be able to remember them, but not yourself or Papyrus. If anything, one would think it would be the opposite effect, or something entirely different. Oh, how puzzling!”

“PUZZLING INDEED!! THOUGH THIS SEEMS A PUZZLE TO BE SOLVED LATER, MY LADY. UNDYNE!! I, TOO, AGREE THAT I DID NOT RECOGNIZE THEM WHEN THEY FIRST CAME HERE! THAT MUCH OF THEIR STORY RINGS TRUE!!”

Undyne glared between the group and the isolated June, still trapped by the fish-girl’s green magic.

“Look, I get it. You don’t know if you can believe me or not, even though you know at least part of what I told you is true because the others can confirm it. You’re worried about what happens if you trust us and it blows up in your face. What if someone gets hurt because of us? What if someone dies and it’s our fault? That’s what you’re thinking right now, right? I know that’s what I’d be thinking about. The what if’s. The worst case scenarios. Making plans and back-up plans for if we betray you. I’d be doing the same thing in your shoes. I have done the same thing. Quite a few times now. It’s scary – no, terrifying – to have to think about that kind of thing. To have to be responsible for someone else. You, you’ve got it worse than I do. Me? My job is to look out for my sister. She’s everything I’ve got. But you, you’ve been entrusted with protecting your entire people. That’s insane. I don’t know if I could handle that much pressure and responsibility. But the fact remains. We’ve both got something precious to us on the line here. So you look into my eyes. Tell me what you see.”

The two girls stared at each other, the air thick with tension as their fierce gazes remained locked. Everyone held their breath, waiting for Undyne’s verdict. And after a full two minutes of them just staring at each other, Undyne lowered her spear.

“I see someone who was meant to have the Soul colors of blue and orange. You’d have to have bravery to go up against ME the way you did!!” Undyne laughed, stabbing the butt of her spear into the ground and striking a strong stance before sobering again. “And I know someone with that much integrity in their Soul can’t make up stuff like that. Blue Souls are loyal to a fault, and they would never risk something so important on a made-up story just to save their own hide. So as much as I HATE IT…I believe you, human.”

With that, she swung her spear across June’s Soul, releasing it from her green magic and letting it sink back into the girl’s chest before letting her spear fizzle out of existence. May’s own Soul slid back inside her, and all present relaxed, sighs of relief echoing all around. June gave Undyne a look of understanding and a grateful nod. She just snorted and looked away.

“Don’t make me regret this, punks! And if what you’re saying is true…we need to finish evacuating Waterfall and get back to the capital, PRONTO. But, uh, we’ll still need to hide you guys from Asgore…”

“Allow me to handle him,” Toriel said easily, waving a paw with a resolute look in her eye. “If I cannot distract him, then I can most certainly get him to listen. He will not be a problem.”

The girls grinned at Toriel, and everyone agreed that heading back to New Home was the best course of action, beginning the trudge back towards the Riverperson’s dock.


	29. Well, That Explains a Few Things...

May sighed as she looked over the kids sitting around her in the Riverperson’s boat. Toriel had insisted on staying behind to help with the evacuation of Waterfall, and Papyrus hung back to protect her (as if she needed it), leaving her and June to ride back to Hotland with Undyne and Sans. Again Sans and June were cracking jokes (Undyne gave mixed signals on whether or not she liked the jokes), and it reminded her that right now, she actually was older than her big sister. It was a strange feeling, knowing she needed to look after all of them, since she was technically the adult right now. It dawned on her that the weight of the responsibility of caring for someone else was a burden June shouldered almost constantly when it came to her, and as soon as this revelation hit, May felt a new level of sympathy and understanding for what her sister went through on her behalf.

The other thing that struck the young girl as odd was how easily June seemed to be slipping between acting like an adult and acting like the six year old she currently was. While June was a teenager in all actuality and did sometimes behave like it, for the most part, she was a level-headed, mature, and responsible person, and very rarely did she ever stoop to childish behavior if it wasn’t prompted for May’s benefit. Now, though…something about her behavior made May uneasy, though she couldn’t say what exactly it was. Maybe she was finally developing an intuition of her own, and it was trying to tell her there was more amiss here than they could see? She sighed again and shook her head. Or she could just be reading this whole thing wrong and have a bad feeling over nothing.

“Tra-la-la~ Something the matter? You’re awfully quiet back there.”

It took a moment for May to realize the Riverperson was talking to her specifically.

“O-oh, um…it’s…I don’t know if it’s something I can put into words, exactly. I’m not really good at stuff like that,” May admitted, looking down at her feet.

“Some things are better left unsaid. Most are not. Is it one of the some, or the most? Tra-la-la~”

May sat silent for a bit, thinking on it. Then she sighed and replied, “Probably one of the most, but I can’t be sure. I just meant that I have a tendency to mince my words, so I’m not the best at explaining things.”

“Effort is met with reward, whether that be a good one, or a bad one. But you must give effort if you are to ever know which it is. Tra-la-la~”

“You…like to say things in a really complicated way, don’t you? Never mind, you don’t have to answer that. You do have a point. I guess it can’t hurt to try and explain,” May sighed. She outlined her thoughts and feelings about the situation and June’s behavior to the Riverperson, not really expecting them to understand her rambling way of explaining things. But after a moment of silence, the Riverperson spoke again.

“Tra-la-la~ I understand you worry. For the first time, you understand some of what she carries on her shoulders, and to see her free of it is unusual. But perhaps your newly awakened instincts are indeed correct. Perhaps not. Time will tell. Or not. Tra-la-la~”

May just stared at the Riverperson in confusion. They clearly understood what she’d been talking about, and they knew something they weren’t sharing with her, but how she’d get them to talk to her was beyond the ravenette. Finally, she shook her head and sighed. She was tired, and didn’t really have the energy to try to puzzle out what they were trying to tell her, instead muttering, “Sure. Whatever you say.”

The rest of the ride passed in relative silence (aside from the sound of the water and talking of the kids). When they got to the Hotland dock the kids disembarked, and May half expected the Riverperson to have something else cryptic and confusing to say, but this time, the hooded figure just sang, “Tra-la-la~ Come again!”

May watched the Riverperson for a minute, than shook her head with a sigh, returning her attention to the other kids running off ahead of her.

It took a bit of doing, but they did find a place in New Home that was safe enough for the two human girls to hide, and once the girls were settled in, Undyne sat them down and looked them both square in the face.

“So. This Error punk. What’s the next step? How do we deal with him?”

“You don’t,” June answered with a frown and a shake of her head. “I told you. We’re the only ones that can handle him. And I know that sounds like a challenge Undyne, but it’s not. Error isn’t some obstacle to overcome, and he isn’t just any enemy.”

“She’s right. The fact that you got captured in the first place proves he’s too much, even for you or Sans,” May added, prepping some tea Undyne had brought. “And really, the next step is to wait. For now, he’s not here, and wherever it is he retreats to is somewhere June and I can’t follow. So we wait for him to make his next move and try to stop him then.”

Undyne growled in frustration, earning a look from both Sans and June, but slouched in her seat and pouted.

“THIS SUCKS!!”

“Tell me about it. I hate waiting around for the other shoe to drop.”

“I could tell from our fight. You’re not the type for a lot of fancy words or politics or anything like that. You’re like me! More about the ACTION and GETTING STUFF DONE! I like that!!”

June and Undyne exchanged grins at this. May sighed and caught Sans’ eye, rolling her own. While May didn’t mind that sometimes she herself was a bit of a damsel in distress, June was always more the action hero type, taking matters into her own hands if things got tough. It was something May had admired about her older sister, and strived to be like. It had just never seemed like June would find anyone to be friends with because of it. But now, with Undyne…May could sense these two would get themselves in trouble if left alone.

When her eyes landed back on Sans, he nodded and made a small gesture that meant he would be watching them. May smiled and nodded back, turning back to the tea. At least Sans would help keep them out of trouble…hopefully.

As the days passed while they waited for Error to show up again, the time seemed to drag by. Toriel and Papyrus eventually got almost all of Waterfall evacuated, with the help of Undyne and Sans. (The girls had to stay out of it, mostly because a pair of humans in the Underground would have scared the monsters even more.) And May’s instincts have proved right, in that June and Undyne, once past their initial differences, became thick as thieves. The two could often be found sparring together, practicing with their magic, or off making trouble lord knows where in New Home. Sans did his part to keep them from getting in too deep, often helping them avoid Asgore, but mostly let them have their fun, to May’s frustration. Being twelve in a land of five to six year olds had her almost pulling her hair out most days. But as more time passed, May’s worries about everything else – even Error – faded into the background.

Again May’s intuition proved to be right on the money. She’d been keeping a close eye on June (or as close as she could, since more often than not June was out of sight with one of their friends), and she’d noticed more of that odd, childish behavior she’d first seen. While it might not have seemed strange to anyone else, May saw it more and more, as if it were taking over the other ravenette’s personality. Then, sometimes, she’d catch June staring at her or one of the others like she had no idea who they were. Her suspicions mounting, May had taken to occasionally asking June if she remembered things. Fond memories from their short time underground, or recent-ish things from the surface. And as the days passed, June struggled more and more to remember things. It was one of these times when May forgot they weren’t alone and tested her sister yet again.

“Hey, June?” she asked nonchalantly while the sisters prepped dinner for the gang that night, all four monsters in earshot of them.

“Hmm?” the green-eyed girl replied, distracted in her own task.

“Do you remember when we met Sans?”

“Yeah. It was like…two weeks ago, I think? Maybe. I don’t keep track of the days well,” she giggled. May froze and stared at her sister. All sound from the monster kids stopped, too.

“And do you remember how we met Sans?” the young girl asked, somehow keeping her emotions out of her voice, not bothering to try to correct June yet.

“Yeah. We were leaving Asgore’s house, and he came up behind us and tried to scare us. Sans, not Asgore. I haven’t met him yet. But he sounds pretty nice. Anyway, Sans asked us if we knew how to greet a new friend in his creepy voice, and we turned around. I stepped forward and surprised him I think, ‘cause I said ‘You shake hands, right?’ And I shook his hand. The best part was, he was holding a whoopee cushion in his hand!” June started laughing by the end, having too much fun remembering the incident. As much fun as she was having, though, all eyes were on May, who was trying not to have a breakdown. Maybe the girls were just on the wrong page…

“That’s not the Sans I meant.”

“Huh?”

“I…this one…he’s not the Sans I meant. I was asking about the other one, the first one. We met him long before this one. More than a month ago, now. You remember meeting him? In the forest before Snowdin?”

Now June made a weird face, moving around her sister as she continued to help with dinner.

“What are you talking about, sis? We’ve never been to Snowdin. It’s sealed off, remember? And the Riverperson won’t take anyone over there?”

“But…do you remember us meeting him there? Or anyone? I mean, can you remember how we met Toriel? Do you remember why we’re underground in the first place?”

“Whoa, geez, calm down. I…I don’t remember how we met Toriel. Or how we got down here. I remember fighting with that woman – our mother. I was saying something about taking her to court? Fighting for custody of you? And…” Now June stopped, freezing where she stood, as if she only just noticed the gap in her memories. “The next thing I remember is being in the throne room. In the palace. I – I don’t…w-what’s going on? Why don’t I remember how I got from being big to being small? Why don’t I remember how we got down here? Where even are we? Why can’t I remember anything?”

Sans and Undyne were instantly by June’s side, Undyne taking what was in her hands from her and Sans guiding her away, gently shushing and comforting her. As June was led away, pale and distraught, May just stood there at the stove, shaking, fat tears rolling down her cheeks as she turned back to her cooking. Undyne quietly put down the strainer of pasta she’d taken from June’s hands and looked hard at May, Toriel joining her on the girl’s other side as she continued to stir the pasta sauce.

“How long have you known about this?” Undyne finally asked when it was clear May wasn’t going to meet any of their gazes.

“…since we got here, I guess,” May whispered, still stirring. The repetitive motion was soothing, if only a little. “When we got here, we noticed she’d been turned from eighteen to six, but…at first, her behavior hadn’t really changed. It wasn’t until later that day I noticed it for the first time. I had a feeling something was wrong, I just knew something was off, she’s never been this childish, she never acts like a little kid, not unless she’s doing it for me, but-but I – the memories…I didn’t see that until a couple days later. I caught her staring at me, at some of us, like she’s forgotten who we are. I started asking her things, recent things, things she should have remembered, but…she was struggling to remember. And now…just a couple of weeks, and now…she doesn’t remember a whole nine months, maybe more. She’s-she’s losing more every day. I’m-I’m scared. I’m so scared. Eventually, she’s not gonna remember me anymore. She’s just gonna wake up one of these days and look at me and have no idea who I am, and I’m gonna lose her. I’m gonna lose my sister, and I’m so scared. I-I don’t know what to do. What if what’s happening isn’t reversible? What if she’s stuck like this forever? I-I can’t – what am I gonna do if I lose her?”

May had broken down into almost hysterical sobs, finally giving up on cooking. With a nod from Toriel, Papyrus and Undyne took over the cooking, Toriel taking the crying girl into another room. As they passed through the living room, Sans and Toriel shared a look. The two monsters could tell it was wise to keep the sisters apart for now.

Once Toriel had finally gotten May from the frantic and hysterical sobbing earlier down to the occasional hiccup and sniffle, she moved so May could see her better.

“My dear…” Toriel began slowly, as if trying to find the right words. “There is much I need to explain to you. And your sister. It is my hope that Sans will explain to June, but if he does not, I will sit her down as well and explain. Before I begin…are you comfortable?”

May sniffed forlornly, adjusting in her spot a little, mumbling, “As comfortable as I’m gonna get.”

“Very well, then. You are aware of the war between monsters and humans, correct? Good,” the goat monster continued when May nodded. “Though I doubt the version you heard is going to be the same as it is here, I will do my best to keep it simple. Long ago, humans and monsters lived together peacefully…”

Toriel went on to explain about the war that broke out seemingly without provocation, ending in the entrapment of the monsters underground. But here was where it differed from the version May had heard. In the war, most if not all the adults had died, leaving just the monster children. Not having another choice, the kids fled to the Underground, hoping to escape the humans. It was then that the seven mages stepped forward, creating the barrier and trapping the surviving monsters inside the mountain. That had been centuries ago. May’s eyes widened in surprise, and she hugged her legs tight against her body, having tucked her knees under her chin while Toriel spoke.

“But if that was so long ago, how come everyone’s still a kid?”

“It is the magic of the barrier. For whatever reason, the barrier did not just trap us underground. It trapped us in time as well. None of us have been able to age or grow up since that day. And while many monsters cannot remember the war with the humans, it is because most from that time are gone. I am one of the few who remain.”

“But then, what about the others? Were they born here? And if so, how come they grew up into being kids, but not adults?”

“That is…a very complicated thing to explain, my dear,” Toriel replied, pink staining her white fur. “I will, however, try. Yes, the others were born here. But I cannot explain why we cannot grow past the age of early childhood. Not because I do not wish to, but because I simply do not know.”

“Wait. How were the others born here if –”

“Please do not make me answer that question!” Toriel squeaked, burying her red face in her paws. May looked at her oddly for a moment. She was acting like May had asked her were babies came from. And then it clicked.

“Oh. _Oh!_ Oh my god, okay, never mind! You don’t have to tell me!” May blurted in reply, hiding her own burning face behind her knees with a nervous and breathy laugh. Toriel giggled herself after a moment, clearing her throat after an awkward silence.

“Is there…anything else you wish to know?”

“Um, there is one thing. What does any of this have to do with June?”

“Ah, yes. I was anticipating this one. You see, we have had humans fall down in the past, and as it so happened, some of them were adults. We realized the anti-aging magic of the barrier only works on magical beings. So it does not normally affect humans.”

“But since me and June are mages, making us more magical than other humans…”

“The barrier seems to have reacted to the magic within June and changed her, reverting her to a state equal to our own. You are beginning to understand. Honestly, I should have brought this to you sooner. After you told us you were mages, I should have said something to you then and there.”

“It’s…it’s okay, Toriel. You’ve had a lot of other things on your plate. And besides, you weren’t here to tell us for a long time. Surely the others know the effects of the barrier too. They had just as much, if not more opportunity to tell us as you did. This isn’t just on you, so don’t blame yourself.”

“But I am partially to blame, and for that, I am sorry. I am sure I could have saved you much pain and heartache if I had spoken up sooner…”

May didn’t have an argument for that one, but still weakly tried to console the guilty goat-girl. But another question crossed her mind, and she pushed on.

“There’s one other thing I don’t get.”

“What is that, my dear?”

“Why hasn’t the barrier affected me? I’m a mage too, making me just as magical as June, but I wasn’t changed. How come I’m still older than all of you?”

“I do not know. Perhaps it is because you are still a child yourself, despite being so much older than the rest of us. Perhaps it has something to do with your magic specifically. I wish I had the answer, I _kid_ you not.”

It took looking at Toriel’s face to realize she had made a double pun, but when it dawn on her, May laughed despite herself. The joke at least made her feel a little better, if dragging up a bittersweet feeling from all the times June would do the same thing to cheer her up. The younger girl sighed and drew her knees up again, hugging them. There were so many questions she wanted answers to, even if they didn’t make sense. She doubted Toriel would have answers for them, though. Still, she wouldn’t get anywhere if she didn’t even ask.

“Why six? Of all ages to turn her into, why six? Why not make her twelve, like me?”

“I do not know, my dear. I apologize.”

“It’s okay, Toriel. If you don’t know, just say you don’t know. You don’t have to apologize for not having all the answers.”

Toriel nodded, though she looked as if she still wanted to express her sympathies for not having the answers May was looking for.

“This effect on June…being six again, acting like a kid again, losing her memories…is it permanent?”

“I do not know. Something like this has never happened before, so we do not have a frame of reference.”

“So I guess you wouldn’t know if there’s a way to reverse the process, huh?”

“I am afraid not. I…” Toriel sighed, clearly stopping herself from apologizing again.

“It’s alright, Toriel,” May replied softly, her voice muffled slightly by her knees. “We just…have to find a way to fix this before it’s too late. I don’t want to lose her. I _can’t_ lose her. There’s got to be something. There just has to be!”

May finally uncurled herself, making herself rationalize and think. That’s what June would do if she were in her right mind, right? She wouldn’t sit around and mope and cry and wait for something to happen. She’d _make_ it happen. And that’s what May would have to do. No more standing idle waiting to be rescued. No more damsel in distress. She needed to be like June, like Undyne! Be the girl of action she’d always hoped to be! She just had to think. Use her head, like June had always told her.

If this whole mess was caused by magic, then surely it could be solved by magic, right? The barrier was the problem. If it was out of the equation, or at least nullified, even partially, that would make a difference. So how would they go about doing that? Well, so far, everyone who’d mentioned the barrier had also said something about needing their Souls to break it. So what did that mean? Would it be as simple as letting them borrow hers or her sister’s power from their Souls to break it?

“Toriel? The barrier…everyone keeps saying they need our Souls to break it, and that once it’s broken, everyone will be free. Even Undyne said it. So while I don’t doubt it’s true, what does that mean, exactly?”

“I…well, I must say I was not expecting this turn of questioning. But, since you seem to have broken out of your…funk, as you would call it? I do not mind answering this one. When monsters say we need your Soul to break the barrier, we mean it literally. We learned long ago that the only thing that can pass through the barrier is the combination of a monster’s Soul and a human’s. However, to completely break the barrier, we need seven human Souls. The monster that absorbs those seven Souls will become god-like, thus granting them the power to break the barrier. In truth, we could have gotten out of the Underground after we had the first human Soul if Asgore had chosen to absorb it then and returned with the other six later. But he did not, and thus we have been stuck here, waiting for all seven Souls. So far, we have six. We need one last Soul to break the barrier.”

“Oh. So you guys only need one of us to break the barrier, then.”

“That it correct. And I think I see where this is going. I do not recommend offering your Soul to break the barrier.”

“Why not? If all you need is one more, then you guys can borrow mine, and –”

“May, my dear…” Toriel interrupted, looking shocked. “You do not understand. Your Soul is a very precious thing. It is the physical manifestation of everything that makes you who you are as a person. Your thoughts, your feelings, your dreams, your ambitions…your fears and flaws…that is what makes up your Soul. And while it is true human Souls are much stronger than monster Souls, it is also true that your Soul is a delicate thing that should not be taken lightly. It can be easily wounded, and even more easily destroyed, or its light extinguished. And no matter what, human or monster…your Soul cannot be separated from your body. To do so would kill the being in question.”

“But…how does that work, if it comes out of humans every time we get in a fight with you guys?”

“That is not your Soul separating from your body, but rather, it being drawn out. It is still connected to you. It is just exposed, temporarily removed from its protective shell. Your body, I mean.”

“Oh. Wait, you mentioned monsters absorbing human Souls. Is that different?”

“Yes. For a monster to absorb the Soul of a human…that human must be dead. So if you were to offer your Soul as one of the seven Asgore would need to absorb to break the barrier…”

“He couldn’t just borrow it and give it back. He’d have to kill me,” May completed the thought quietly, going pale. She clenched her fist unconsciously over where her Soul was as the information slid into place in her mind. For either sister to offer their Soul to Asgore meant death. No wonder the others were so intent on keeping the girls away from him. It was clear they preferred their humans very much alive. Quite frankly, so did May.

Okay, so offering her Soul was out. No question. Well, maybe not completely out. If there really was no other way, save it for a last-ditch effort. But really, really make sure there wasn’t another way to reverse the effect on June before even considering offering her Soul. But for now, completely off the table. Back to square one. Well, not completely square one. She at least knew more now than she did before. But it didn’t really help much. There had to be another way around this.

“So definitely not offering my Soul to be absorbed. But…stuff like this, there’s always something June calls a work around. A way to bypass the problematic solution and still get the results you want. So, as reluctant as I am to ask this…why couldn’t a monster’s Soul take the place of that last human Soul?”

“Well, as I mentioned – and I am sure you are well aware by now – human Souls are significantly stronger than monster Souls. It would take the Soul of every monster in the Underground to match one human Soul. That is the difference in raw power between a human Soul and a monster Soul.”

“Whoa…” May breathed, clutching at that spot again, right over her own Soul. “No wonder me and my sister freak you guys out so much! Not only are we human, but because we’re mages, we have magic like yours too, making us that much stronger. Geez, I never would have thought…and, I mean, since mages are the reason you guys are trapped down here in the first place, I’m sure the whole thing leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

“Do not worry, my dear,” Toriel chuckled, smiling at the girl sweetly. “I, nor any of us you have befriended, think any less of you for being a mage. It comes as a surprise, yes, but that does not change who you are as a person. And I know you. You are a kind, selfless, gentle person, with a passion for helping others. Possessing magic has not changed that.”

May glowed with the praise, proud to think that Toriel was right. If anything, she had only used her powers and magic to further aid those around her. She wiggled a little in joy, then sprang forward and hugged the goat monster with a happy giggle.

“Thanks, Toriel. I needed that.”

Toriel was caught off guard by the sudden affection, but accepted it nonetheless, hugging the ravenette back before she let go and leaned away, returning to thinking about a solution with new vigor.

So, since it wasn’t possible to replace the human Soul, and she still wasn’t going to offer hers just yet…what other ways were there to work around this problem of the barrier? Then something Toriel said crossed her mind, and May started seriously thinking about it.

Could it work? Was something like that even possible? If it was, how were they going to pull it off? Well, with only Hotland and the Core left un-evacuated to New Home, it wouldn’t be hard to get the word out for what they needed to do. But it did pose a big risk, because even if it were possible to get all the monsters to work together, it meant exposing both May and June as humans – worse, as mages. Not everyone would be so kind and understanding, she knew that. Even more challenging, how would they get the six human Souls involved, since they would still be needed? It wasn’t like the girls could absorb them like monsters could. It just wasn’t possible. And getting one monster to absorb the six Souls, then somehow funnel that power into the barrier in combination with everything else…she needed to discuss this with someone else. Her mind just wasn’t equipped to looking at every facet of an idea like this. But it was a big idea. Drastic. Maybe just what they needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. So, the Author's Note I left still applies, but thanks to Book_Warrior7, I have the old copy of my writing that she had. So for now, I can go back to posting for BtM. However, everything else it staying on hiatus until I either get my flash drive fixed (which is taking longer than I thought, obviously), or I'm forced to give up hope on that and just re-write everything I lost on the stories I had sent Book_Warrior7 copies of. To anyone who was reading those stories as well, I'm sorry that I can't update them right now. As it stands, I just don't have the heart to do much more than keep posting what we have of BtM. I can only hope you guys can forgive me and continue to be patient with me. Thank you for sticking with us, guys, and hopefully, we'll see you next week for more. -S


	30. The Barrier

When May explained her idea to first Toriel, then the others (her sister included), they had all been skeptical. Well, all except June, who had to be sat down and told why the other two options were a no-go. Once she was up to speed, however, June’s analytical mind was set into motion, and her whole demeanor changed. Before long, May knew she had her sister back, even if temporarily. The sisters began to animatedly discuss all the details, the potential troubles and pitfalls, the work arounds for those problems, and more, surprising the monsters by how quickly the two became absorbed in their own little world of planning and plotting. Sans even made a passing comment about how clever and intuitive humans were, and the girls just flashed him matching inspired smiles.

It would take time to set everything up, but with the monsters’ help, it wouldn’t take nearly as long as if the girls had to go out and do everything themselves. Undyne said she knew someone who could help them get to everyone out in Hotland and the Core, and Toriel could rope Asgore into unwittingly helping them when it came to New Home. Sans could easily help them get past Asgore without getting caught and to the barrier. Papyrus was more than happy to play messenger and lookout for the girls. And though the monsters were still skeptical, the girls’ enthusiasm had them all hyped up for the upcoming plan to break the barrier. There were only a few kinks to iron out.

First, Undyne’s friend that would help them reach out to Hotland, the Core, and anyone left in the sealed off Snowdin and Waterfall. The girls would need to work out how to get in touch with them, and what kind of setup they were looking at for how to get the word out to the farther reaches of the Underground. Undyne seemed to have the utmost confidence in that they wouldn’t reveal the girls were human if they went to meet the monster, but both were wary. But with not much time to work with, they had little choice but to go meet Undyne’s friend, the fish monster insisting on going with them for a good first impression.

As it turned out, the little yellow dinosaur/lizard monster named Alphys was ecstatic about meeting them, and had already vowed not to reveal their secret to anyone else. The normally timid reptilian-girl hardly stuttered when talking to the girls, occasionally breaking her long scientific rambles to clarify something, or to ask the odd question regarding humans. Really, they got along well with her, May even more so than June, and when May insisted they take breaks to let their minds rest, she would happily agree to make their breaks into anime-watching parties at Alphys’ request. (When this happened, Undyne was more than happy to join them. It took a bit of convincing from Alphys for the girls not to tell the fish-girl that anime was not, in fact, human history.) After a few days, things were really starting to shape up on that end.

The second problem they faced was Asgore. Keeping him in the dark about basically everything was a real challenge, even for Toriel, who had ended up getting Undyne’s and Alphys’ help keeping the young king away from wherever the girls were at the time. As long as Asgore was distracted, however, Sans and Papyrus could get the girls and flee the scene. The longer they had to wait to spring their plan into action, the harder it seemed to become to avoid the king. But they were managing, for the time being.

The third issue still staring them in the face was the human Souls and what to do with them. This one seemed insurmountable, as neither girl could do anything about the Souls, let alone use them to break the barrier. And short of asking their friends to absorb the Souls and use them when the time came, they didn’t know what to do. Since neither one could think of a good plan on that front and they didn’t want to ask their friends to absorb the Souls, they resolved that if it came down to it, they would only ask the monsters to absorb the Souls if they absolutely had to.

The fourth snag was June’s memory loss. By far the most pressing of their problems, now that everyone was aware of it, they all were keeping an eye on her, in the hopes that they would catch it sooner if something changed. And catch it, they did. With May being the only one who knew enough about their lives on the surface to keep checking June’s memory, they discovered that June’s memory loss was accelerating. Where it previously took two weeks for her to lose nine months, it was now taking her just a day to lose an entire year. With every passing day, it was getting worse, and May’s fears of losing June entirely seemed more and more real. Everyone felt the pressure to break the barrier before the effect on June became irreversible, if it wasn’t already.

The last problem they still had to deal with was Error. With everything going on, thoughts of the interdimensional skeleton were pushed to the backburner, but that didn’t mean he was any less of a threat. With it nearing on three weeks since they’d last seen him, everyone was tense and on edge, waiting for when he would show up again. But until he decided to return, there was nothing they could do about him. More than once, May called Science Sans and Gaster, hoping for a location or some kind of information, but with Error hanging out in his favorite static-blocked spot while they waited for him, they couldn’t give her anything to go off of either. There was nothing to do but sit back and wait for him to attack again.

Finally, after almost a week of planning and preparation, everything was ready for them to launch May’s plan to break the barrier. Alphys hooked May up to the device they’d worked on that simulated telepathy, handing her the spare just in case. The headband-like device was designed to detect when its wearer was using their magic and tune in to the frequency of their magic, then project their thoughts out on a special magical wavelength that could be picked up from anywhere in the Underground. Once the signal was picked up, the machine reverted the magical wavelength back into words and sound, making the user’s thoughts audible to whoever else was wearing the headbands. For this, several sets of the small machine were made: one for May, specifically tuned to block out the interference of the barrier from how close the girls would have to be to it; one as a backup for May’s, or for June, should she choose to use one as well; and ten for the monster kids involved in the plan, not tuned for use near the barrier. Really, they’d only needed anywhere from four to seven of the ones from the original design, but having the extras was a good idea, should one break or have a malfunction.

Once May had it properly hooked up, Sans teleported both girls as close as he could to the barrier, then stood back, both to give them room to work and because he couldn’t actually be that physically close to the barrier. Both girls gave him reassuring, confident smiles, then turned their attention to what stood between them and the barrier: seven glass tubes, six of which held the brightly glowing heart-shaped Souls. (Asgore had brought them up at Toriel’s request before she’d insisted they both needed to be out among the people in New Home, thus making sure the girls had access to the Souls without the king present.) Not totally sure what to do here, the girls approached the tubes slowly.

To their surprise, the glow of the Souls seemed to perk up in their presence, and the Souls themselves bounced around in their tubes excitedly. The green and purple Souls gravitated towards May a little more naturally, where the blue and orange did the same for June. The sisters looked at each other, wondering if the Souls were sentient somehow.

“Excuse me. Can you…can all of you understand me?” May asked them aloud. The Souls pulsed, leaning towards her a little. They took that as a yes.

“Okay, then we need a system to communicate. That thing where you pulsed your light…how about that? Do that once for yes and twice for no.”

The Souls pulsed once to show they understood. Well, this got interesting quickly. Time to see if their worry about what to do with the Souls was actually not a real issue.

“So…you guys…um…do you know what you’re here for?”

They pulsed once.

“So you know we need your help to break the barrier. Right?”

Again, one pulse.

“Good. I know it’s kind of a lot to ask of you guys, but it’s a big help to us, and all the monsters. So thank you. For now, we need to finish setting things up, so just sit tight for a bit. We’ll let you know when we need you, alright?”

The Souls all pulsed once, then bounced around some more, waiting impatiently for whatever the girls were going to do. The sisters laughed, then May tapped into her magic, sending out a thought to the others.

_Testing, testing. This is May. Doing a quick roll call. Who’s hooked up so far?_

_I am quite ready whenever you are, my dear._ Toriel was the first to respond, her thoughts brimming with apprehension, excitement, a bit of hope, and an overwhelming amount of calming strength.

_THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS READY WITH THE SNOWDIN REFUGEES, HUMAN-FRIEND!!_

_I’m hooked up and almost to Waterfall as we speak, punk!_ Undyne had made it very clear that she should be the one to go to Waterfall and speak to the ones who hadn’t or couldn’t evacuate. The girls had agreed. They just had to hope the fish-monster could reach all those still in Waterfall. It was such a large area for one person to cover, after all…

_I-I’m r-ready in the C-Core! O-or as r-ready as I’m g-going to be…_ Alphys even stuttered in her thoughts. Bless that sweet little dinosaur-girl.

_I’ve got everyone rounded up here in Hotland, dearies! They’re just waiting for the signal! Ahuhuhu~_ Since the kids were spread so thin, they’d needed to reach out to Muffet, who jumped at the chance to help the girls.

May grinned to herself to hear that almost everyone was in place and ready to go. She relayed the information out loud for Sans and June, the Souls bouncing happily at the mention of some of the monsters’ names. It looked like things were going to work out better than they were hoping.

_Good. Everyone can hear me, then. I’ve got good news. The Souls won’t need to be absorbed like we thought. They’re sentient, even after however long they’ve been separated from their bodies. And even better, they’re willing to help us! It’s hard to tell, but I think they’re excited to finally get to do what they were meant to do._

A chorus of excited thoughts flooded May’s mind at this revelation, and she wobbled a bit on her feet from the onslaught, a little breathless laugh escaping her as she steadied herself. Then, suddenly, all went quiet and still. The Souls quit their excited bouncing around and dimmed, seeming to cower near the bottom of their containers. The girls were confused by their change in behavior, but as June was asking them what was wrong, two thoughts assaulted May’s mind.

_May, come quickly! He has returned!_

_HUMAN FRIEND!! WE ARE IN NEED OF YOUR ASSISTANCE!! HURRY!!!!!_

May gasped, grabbing June and dashing over to where Sans stood vigil, an alarmed and perplexed look of his own on his face.

“what’s wrong with the Souls? what’s going on?”

“No time!” May cried, latching on to Sans’ hand. “Teleport us back outside, now!”

Knowing May wasn’t the type to issue commands like that unless it was something urgent, he nodded, his left eye flaring blue.

“you know what to do.”

The girls nodded, closing their eyes as they held on to him. The familiar feeling of weightlessness made them both hold on a little tighter, but as soon as it passed, May opened her eyes again and dragged both smaller kids behind her as she raced through the streets.

_We’re here, guys! Talk to me! Where –_

But before she could finish her thought, May watched in horror as a set of blue cables flew from somewhere else in New Home and connected solidly to the cave ceiling. Both June and Sans gasped in shock, and all three stood frozen as the cables went taut. Pulling at the boulders above New Home. Error was literally bringing the Underground down on their heads.

As the first rumbles set in of the cave resisting, May started moving again, her magic enveloping her hands and eyes as the crowd of monsters parted for her, Sans, and June. They had to work fast.

_Toriel, Papyrus, get everyone to a different part of the city! As far from Error as you can get them to go! Run!_

_I will have Asgore move them as fast as it possible!_

_I WILL MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS SAFE IF I HAVE TO CARRY THEM OUT MYSELF!! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!_

“June, Sans, make sure your blue magic is ready! I’m not sure I’ll be fast enough to stop all the boulders once they start falling, so you’ll need to catch what I miss!”

“Okay!”

“on it, chief.”

_Alphys, Muffet, stay where you are and make sure no one leaves the Core or Hotland! They’re safe where they are right now, and they need to stay that way!_

_R-r-roger th-that!_

_No one will be getting past my web, dearie!_

_Good! And Undyne! I know you want a rematch with Error, but stay where you are! Keep trying to get everyone together in Waterfall. Your orders match Alphys’ and Muffet’s._

_But I can help! I can destroy that punk!!_

_Undyne, no! We don’t have time for this! It’s your job to get everyone in Waterfall together and protect them, so do it! We’re counting on you!_

_But…ugh, alright! But you punks had better not DIE without me there!! YOU HEAR ME?!_

May didn’t have time to give an affirmative. They’d found Error, just as the first of the boulders started to fall. May reached deep within herself, summoning forth as much magic as she could muster and cast a shield above them, stretching it out over as much of New Home as she could. A few boulders slipped under her shield as she stretched it to capacity, Sans and June using their blue magic to catch the boulders and gently place them off to the side. As the cave crumbled around them, the ceiling now only held up by May’s gigantic shield, Error looked their direction in surprise, his expression twisting into a sneer of disgust and rage.

“why do you anomalies feel the need to interfere?” he barked, staring them down. “all you’re doing is delaying the inevitable. and you two, you human anomalies – i’m sick of you ruining my plans! i’m sick of you both ruining everything! i’m ending your miserable existence once and for all!”

May grunted under the strain of maintaining a shield so large, unable to move, lest she break her concentration. Error seemed to understand this as he sent a wave of bones her direction, her Soul slipping forth as the first one got close enough to her to draw it out. The shield that naturally protected her Soul blocked the bones, but as he pulled another wave up from behind, she knew she wouldn’t be so lucky. That’s when Sans and June leapt into action, blocking the bones and standing to shield the blue-eyed ravenette.

“We’ve got your back!”

“though attacking from behind seems like a pretty _spineless_ move to me.”

May and June both smiled at the joke, May a bit weakly. Error just growled, sending another wave of bones.

The struggle lasted a while, though Sans tired quickly and June lacked…well, most of what made her such a worthy opponent for Error in the first place. But she was still quick and agile, so she was able to evade and distract him for long enough that Sans could rest between bouts of attacks. May was too focused on keeping her shield raised to do any fighting, instead just watching and occasionally moving a bit to block attacks that strayed a little too close to her. After a while, though, Sans and June were joined by Papyrus, who ended up mostly staying close to May and protecting her. When the tables turned, though, they really turned. Sans was in need of a rest, but was being forced to dodge and move about instead, and neither June nor Papyrus could get Error’s attention. It didn’t take long for Sans to be caught, the thick blue strings winding around his Soul with ease. Papyrus was next, trying to rescue his brother and ending up caught. Then Error grinned evilly at May, still struggling to hold up her shield.

“Error, wait! Please!” she huffed, her whole body beginning to shake from the strain on her magic from maintaining such a large shield for so long. “If you touch me, the whole cavern will come down. On all of us. That means…that means you’ll die, too!”

“no i won’t. i’ll just teleport out of the way,” he replied, readying his strings. Then June, who had snuck up behind him while he was distracted, jumped forward and grabbed his arms, trying to pin them and successfully stopping his attack.

“You do that, you’ll be stuck with me!” the small girl grunted, clinging to him as he thrashed about to try and dislodge her. After a couple seconds of flailing, he did manage to get June off of him, flinging the girl over his shoulder unceremoniously. She gave a startled yelp as she swung through the air, gasping in pain as she hit the ground at his feet. Error, clearly and thoroughly done with the girls’ games, grabbed onto June’s arm with an almost feral snarl. Then the most unexpected thing happened.

As soon as Error grabbed June, he let her go again, yelling in pain. In his haste to get away from the girl, he dropped Sans and Papyrus, too, who both rushed to June’s side.

“what the heck was that, and why didn’t you do it sooner?” Sans demanded, keeping one hand on June while Papyrus went to check on May.

“I…I don’t know. I didn’t do anything! I swear!”

Sans studied her a moment, trying to figure out what it could have been that hurt Error from just touching the girl, but he didn’t have long to think on it. She suddenly saw a wave of bones flying their direction and tackled him to the ground, forcing them both to avoid the attack. Then Error was upon them again, yanking June away with his strings. She struggled mightily, and other others called to her, but May was still incapable of attacking, and the boys didn’t want to risk hurting June. Instead, they glared fiercely at Error, who was too busy glaring at June to notice or care.

“you…you’ve never been able to hurt me before. why are you able to now? what changed? what did you do?” he demanded, giving her a little shake with his strings. She cried out a little at being shaken, but she huffed and stood her ground, giving him her level best glare.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she taunted, which earned her a much rougher shake this time. “I don’t know, okay? I mean it! I don’t know! I haven’t done anything! All I did was try not to let you hit me! Now put me down, ya big meanie!”

Error snorted and ignored her demand, electing to reach out and touch her instead. When nothing happened, he poked the same spot a few times, as if confused. Then he hummed to himself with a thoughtful look on his face, and reached out to her again, this time for a patch of skin that looked to be discolored by something. When his hand made contact with the spot, he cried out and yanked back, staring at her in alarm. It took all of a second for May to realize what had happened.

_Ink’s blood._

Papyrus turned to face her, his confused thoughts joining the chorus of puzzled thoughts from her sudden revelation.

_Error touched where June’s stained with Ink’s blood. Ink’s blood hurt him. The Riverperson…they were warning us about this! “Brothers not of the same blood are harmed by each other’s.” This is what they meant! If he touches Ink’s blood, it hurts him!_

The other kids connected to May’s thoughts had no idea what was going on, so her excited revelation was mostly met with more confusion, but Papyrus was able to connect the dots. His head snapped between May and Error so fast, it was surprising the wide-eyed skeleton wasn’t giving himself whiplash. Sans, though not connected to May’s thoughts, seemed to understand that Error touching anywhere with the matching stain meant he would be hurt, which was good for them. At the same time, it seemed to register with Error as well.

“this stuff on you…how? how is it hurting me? what is it? why…”

“I told you, I don’t know. I don’t know what it is and I don’t know how it got there. I can’t remember.”

“you can’t remember?”

“No. Apparently I’ve been losing my memories. There’s a lot I don’t remember. Like, you. I don’t remember having met you before. I don’t actually know who you are. I know your name is Error, and you’ve attacked us before. I know we fought before. I know you’ve killed somebody before, and me and her were there. But I don’t actually remember any of that stuff. I just know it ‘cause they told me.”

Error paused, staring at June blankly for a bit. Then he smiled at her, an almost sweet smile, but on him, it bordered on creepy.

“ah. i see. the barrier here seems to have the same negative effect on you as it does on me. but you’ve been exposed to it for so long, you’re actually starting to lose yourself. i wonder how much longer it’ll take for you to become completely helpless…tell me, how long have you been here?”

“Three weeks, I think.”

“and have they told you how much of your memory you’ve lost?”

June paused, then her shoulders sagged and she slumped, bouncing a little in place where Error’s strings held her suspended.

“No. And honestly, I didn’t even notice until a week ago. I freaked out so bad, they kind of…stopped bringing it up. But I can guess I’ve lost a lot of time. I mean, the last thing I remember before my memories start up from being here…is moving to a new house ‘cause ours burned down, and having to watch May while Mommy moved boxes. Only, May didn’t…she wasn’t all…big like that. She was little, littler than me.”

“how little?”

“Um…little enough that she had a hard time walking. And she couldn’t talk, not really, not yet, anyway.”

“oh my. and how old were you? how old was she?”

“Eight. She was two. Now she’s twelve. That’s…um…ten years. I…I can’t remember ten years.”

The pale, terrified look on her face seemed to make it all the better for Error. This was its own form of torture, and he was definitely enjoying that she was so vulnerable.

“you poor thing…” he cooed, a sickly sweet smile on his face that, in its own way, matched the sarcasm of his tone. June gritted her teeth and glared at him, then grinned back, hers much more wicked. Then she did something only a small child would think to do in her situation. June spit in Error’s face. He cried out in disgust, wiping it off as if it were something toxic. His frantic action made him lose his concentration and drop her.

June, landing on the ground gracefully, leapt forward with a mighty battle cry and tackled Error, making sure the side of her body stained with Ink’s blood made contact with him. When it did, he shrieked in pain, violently thrashing and glitching out in her grip. The small ravenette grunted from the effort of keeping him contained in her arms, but refused to let go, the other kids cheering her on.

After a few agonizing seconds of wrestling on the ground, Error finally managed to get free, kicking her to the side before climbing to his feet and staggering away from her. June was quick to recover, crouching like a cat about to strike. But before the girl could pounce, Error ripped a hole through to somewhere else and stumbled through, it snapping shut just before she would have reached it. She snarled at the open air, but stood again, brushing off before turning to the others with a big, proud, confident grin. The two skeleton kids cheered for her, rushing over to congratulate her on her victory. May just smiled from where she stood, relieved Error was dealt with.

Then May gasped and fell to one knee, feeling her shield reach its limit. They weren’t out of the woods yet. But she knew if she let up, everyone still in this section of the city would be crushed, so she pushed on, forcing her shield higher over New Home and further out. All three smaller children ran to her side with worried expressions. At this point, May was far too tired to waste energy or breath on speaking, so she was glad the device had survived the entire fight.

_Papyrus, you, June, and Sans go look for anyone that’s left under my shield. If you find anyone, move them outside the range of my shield. Somewhere they’ll be safe._

“BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU?” he asked, wringing his hands. Sans and June looked at him in confusion. May shook her head, panting under the strain.

_Don’t worry about me right now. I’ll be fine. Just go, and hurry! I don’t know how much longer I can hold on…_

Papyrus seemed torn, but eventually nodded, turning to Sans and June and relaying the information to them. They, too, were reluctant to leave her, but eventually did, June and Papyrus making up a team while Sans went off on his own to search. After a long several minutes, Papyrus’ thoughts echoed anxiously in her brain.

_WE HAVE RELOCATED EVERYONE FROM UNDERNEATH YOUR SHIELD, HUMAN! WHAT NOW?_

May sighed in relief, bracing her shield one last time.

_Get June and Sans to come back for me. And tell him to be ready to move –_ fast.

Papyrus gave an affirmative, and a second later, June and Sans appeared nearby with a little pop and the smell of ozone. May coughed, but otherwise held her ground. Then she felt two sets of hands on her and she opened her eyes. (When had she closed them? She hadn’t noticed.)

“hey, we’re here. you ready?”

May nodded once, barely glancing over at them.

“Barrier,” she managed past her labored breathing. She hoped Sans would understand, as that was all she could get out before her arms finally dropped, the shield disappearing instantly as her magic faded. As the sound of the ceiling coming down above them drowned out everything else, there was that same feeling of weightlessness that accompanied Sans’ teleporting, then May collapsed on the ground as it reappeared beneath her, exhausted.

“geez, no wonder you said to move fast,” Sans breathed, his voice shaky as he flopped to the ground next to her. “hey, are you alright? you don’t look so hot…”

May waved a hand weakly as she waited for her vision to clear. She’d used a lot of her magic projecting such a large shield for an extended period of time, and in truth, she felt terrible. Her head was swimming, she was nauseated, and at the same time, utterly drained. It was taking much of her willpower to not just pass out.

“I’ll…be fine…” she finally murmured instead, lifting her head just enough to look at him. “Just…need a breather…”

June made a small noise of worry on Sans’ other side, but he crawled closer and moved May to lean on him, replying, “should have figured that’d be pretty taxing on you. we really shouldn’t have taken your magic for _granite._ ”

May smiled a little and huffed in amusement, the closest she could get to an actual laugh right then. June snorted, giving the skeleton a light slap on the arm.

“That was bad.”

“you guys seemed to like it.”

“That doesn’t make it better.”

He laughed in reply, but all three kids quickly quieted while May rested. When May finally started to look better, Sans sighed and scratched the back of his skull, looking a little worried.

“we should probably let the others know we’re okay and didn’t get crushed. especially since the section of the city that collapsed has us trapped in here now.”

May nodded, then glanced over at him in confusion as she took off the device and beckoned her sister closer, too tired to summon her magic right then.

“What do you mean we’re trapped in here? Where is here, exactly?”

“well, you said ‘barrier’ right before you let the ceiling go, and since we were about to be crushed to death, i kind of…panicked. i went to the first place i thought of, and since the first thing to come to mind was the last thing you said…”

“Oh. Well, that’s good, then. I wanted you to bring us to the barrier. Sorry I scared you guys, though. I know it wasn’t exactly ideal for me to just drop the shield like that. I just couldn’t hold it anymore. If I did, I’d have passed out for sure,” she frowned, getting the small machine settled on June’s head. “There. You remember how Alphys told us it works?”

June nodded, then closed her eyes and concentrated. Right away, her mind was flooded with worried thoughts from the others, and she gasped, swaying a little under the force of their minds.

_Guys, too much! Calm down!_

The flow of thoughts eased, most of them shifting to surprise to hear from the second ravenette.

_Is May alright, dearie?_

_Yeah, she’s okay. She just used a lot of magic to keep the shield up for so long, and she’s really tired. She’s resting right now. All three of us are._

_SANS IS THERE WITH YOU??_

_Yeah, Paps. He’s here, and he’s okay, too._

Relief came through very clearly from all parties connected, and June grinned, giving Sans and May a thumbs up.

_So where the heck are you punks? Now that we know you’re not dead and all._

_Oh, we’re at the barrier. Sans says we’re stuck over here, though._

_He would be correct. The section of the city that collapsed has blocked off access to the palace. We will have to move the mountain itself if we are to reach the tunnel out now._

_Well, there are ways around that! Don’t worry! Just a minor wrinkle in the plan, that’s all! We’ll think of something. First, we’ve gotta break the barrier, though!_

June’s reassurances were helpful in lifting the spirits of the kids and bolstering their morale. And really, she was right. Their initial priority still stood: to bring down the barrier. And they were in the best place to do just that right then.

_Okay! As soon as May’s feeling better, it’s time to get back to work!_

The others cheered in agreement over their magical telepathic link, and June focused on Sans and May again.

“How soon do you think you’ll be ready to tackle the barrier?” she asked her sister.

“june, i don’t know that –”

“Could be a while. I’ll need the energy to throw more of my magic at it, and right now, I’m not feeling up to mustering enough to work the headband. But I’ll keep a gauge on myself and let you know when I’m feeling stronger.”

June nodded, sending the information out to the others. Sans just looked at May seriously, lowering his voice while the other ravenette was distracted.

“are you sure about this? there’s no way you’ll be at full capacity again any time soon, and using your magic so heavily all at once could make you sick. or worse, if your current condition is anything to go by.”

“Not really. But everyone is counting on us. I can’t just let them down because I got tired. So full capacity or not – current condition or not – I have to at least try.”

A line of worry creased the bone between Sans’ eyes, and May gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile, gently trying to smooth away the wrinkle.

“If I feel like I can’t handle it, I’ll back off. I’ll let you guys know something’s wrong. Okay? I promise I will.”

Her words didn’t seem to satisfy the skeleton, but he sighed and moved her hand, murmuring, “you’d better.”

It took a good few hours for May to feel strong enough to get up and try to manifest her magic, and even longer for her to do so successfully. (Far too long in her opinion, but Sans refused to let her even go near the barrier or put the headband back on until she no longer struggled with her magic.) Once she was finally feeling up to it, she and June approached the barrier again, and the Souls pulsed and bounced around, clearly happy to see them again.

“You guys okay?” June asked them, to which they pulsed once, remembering their method of communicating. “Glad to hear it. I’m guessing you guys could sense Error. He’s pretty scary, huh?”

The Souls stopped bouncing and shivered in their containers, pulsing an affirmative. Even the orange Soul pulsed that it agreed, but promptly pulsed several more times, as if trying to say something else, too. June giggled to watch it seemingly protest its own fear. May smiled gently, turning her attention to them as well.

“Okay, guys. It’s almost time. We’re gonna break the barrier. Are you ready?”

They all pulsed once, proud and strong. May nodded to them, then focused inward, reaching for her magic.

_Alright guys. One last test. Roll call!_

_Those of the Ruins and New Home are ready, my dear._

_Th-the Core is ready, M-May!_

_Awaiting your signal in Hotland, dearie. Ahuhuhu~_

_SNOWDIN REFUGEES READY, HUMAN FRIEND!!_

_You better believe Waterfall is READY, PUNK!!_

_Alright then. Everyone, on my signal._

May glanced over at her sister and nodded. June nodded back, and both girls called forth their magic, the light from their glowing hands and eyes banishing any remaining shadows in the room. Then they channeled what they had and directed it at the barrier.

_Now!_

“Now!” June cried in tandem with May’s thought, calling to the Souls. The girls unleashed their magic at the same time, green and purple and orange and blue sinking into the impassable wall easily. At first, it seemed to do nothing except tint the barrier with the shades of their magic. But then the girls felt a sudden surge of magical power, not from themselves, but somehow surrounding them and making them stronger. In it, they could hear and feel the hopes, dreams, and wishes of every monster in the Underground, giving their magic a much needed boost. The barrier seemed to take even this onslaught like a champ, barely registering a strain of any kind. Then the Souls floated free of their glass tubes, the six combined lights difficult to look at as they too, directed everything they had into the barrier.

For a split second, even the combined might of the six human Souls, every monster in the Underground, and the magic of two mages didn’t seem to be enough. The girls could feel the barrier draining them, May worse than June. But just when it seemed they’d have to call it off, the magical pressure in the room overwhelming and oppressive – 

There was a sudden crack, followed by a thunderous boom, and a brilliant flash of light so bright, the three kids present shrieked, covered their eyes, turned away some, and still ended up blinded. Then they were hit with the aftershock, the magical backlash of the breaking wall of pure magic slamming into all of them hard. All of them screamed as they were thrown, Sans being knocked unconscious when he collided with the back wall of the chamber.

When Sans came around again, the barrier was gone. The girls’ plan had worked. It seemed the Souls were gone, too. Well, they hadn’t planned on the Souls being able to help them of their own free will, so it made a certain kind of sense that they’d disappeared. But Sans’ Soul dropped when his eyes landed on the two headbands laying broken on the ground before where the barrier had been. It seemed the sisters had vanished as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, the formatting for the magical telepathy was a pain in the ass...anyway, hope you guys enjoy this one, and we'll see you next week for more.  
> (Oh, and no trigger warning this time, despite the mention of blood, because it's not like actual gore or anything. If anything, I personally headcanon that Ink's blood looks like either black ink or paint staining parts of their skin and clothes.) -S


	31. Time to Make Like a Banana...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update is late, guys! Not only does my current work schedule consistently conflict with my posting schedule for BtM, but yesterday was particularly busy for me, and I didn't think to see if Book_Warrior7 could post the chapter for me. Whoops! But anyway, here's the late next chapter. Enjoy, and as always, see you guys next week for more! -S

When the girls woke up, it was slow, and more than a little painful. Both rolled into sitting positions, groaning.

“What happened?” May grumbled, keeping her eyes closed against the harsh glare of their environment. “Where are we?”

“Beats the hell out of me…” June muttered, nursing her own headache. It hit both girls at the same time how her voice sounded. The deep pitch, the throaty gravel that gave it a distinct growl…June’s voice had returned to normal. The older ravenette’s eyes flew open and she stared at her sister in surprise, who returned the look with equal shock. May took one look at June and slowly started to grin, tears of relief burning at the corners of her eyes.

“June…” she whispered, voice thick with emotion. The older girl looked like she was back to normal, she sounded like she was back to normal – swearing and all…May didn’t want to get her hopes too high, but…

“I’m…holy shit. I’m back. It worked. I’m back!” June broke into a grin of her own, laughing in relief and joy. “You did it, kiddo! Your plan worked. And I couldn’t be prouder of you. C’mere, kiddo. Big sis needs a hug.”

May launched into June’s arms like she’d been fired out of a cannon, sobbing and rambling something unintelligible against her sister. The most the taller ravenette could make out was how scared the younger had been to lose her. June gently shushed the little girl, stroking her hair soothingly.

“It’s okay, baby girl. I’m still here. You didn’t lose me. And I’m not going anywhere any time soon. It’d take a lot more than that for you to get rid of me, kiddo. You know that. It’s okay, let it out. You did so good back there, coming up with that plan and taking care of me and the others in the meantime. You were so mature, and so strong. I’m so proud of you, baby girl.”

When May finally stopped crying, she just stayed curled in June’s arms, tired and spent. Her earlier extreme use of her magic left her more drained than she otherwise would have been, and she could feel it. She would have loved to just fall asleep then, but she knew that wasn’t a good idea when they still didn’t know where they were, so she made herself sit up again.

“Where are we?” she murmured, finally looking around. June, too, lifted her head to examine their surroundings before answering.

Vast whiteness stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see. There was nothing really of note to see besides the sisters themselves, the only points of color in the bright expanse of nothingness. May looked up at June, watching her try to glean anything of use out of the barren landscape.

“Seems to me we’re back in the Anti-Void. Which is weird, since we should still be in that other universe, the one with all the kids. Any idea what happened?” she added, looking down at May. The younger sister shook her head.

“All I know is there was that loud noise and the bright flash of light. Then we were hit by something, but I couldn’t see what it was. Then…nothing. I blacked out, I think.”

“Mm. So did I. Maybe the Science boys will know?”

“Worth a shot. Let’s call them.”

Both girls turned their attention to their watches, putting in the controls to call Science Sans and Gaster, but when they set it up, nothing came over the screens. Both just emitted angry static, the white noise pouring from their speakers. They winced and shut off the communication function, puzzled.

“The hell?”

“Maybe something’s wrong with their machine. We should try another universe. Outer, maybe?”

“Alright, sounds good.”

They tried again, this time locking in on Outer Sans’ universe. But again, they were met with static and blank screens.

“There’s no way that’s a coincidence. Both Outer _and_ Science are down? No way. The odds for that have to be extremely slim.”

“Maybe, but it still could happen. A slim chance is still a chance, after all.”

“Maybe,” June grunted, a feeling of dread settling into the pit of her stomach. “Let’s try one more. Somewhere we haven’t been, maybe. Just to see if it works.”

May nodded, and both girls picked random numbers and tried to reach out to the universes. More static.

“Did we wind up with the same universe?”

“I don’t think so. My number was one-sixteen. What was yours?”

“Two-seventy.”

“Then we definitely didn’t. So what the fuck? Something’s not right here, May. Whatever’s going on, I want you to stay close to me unless I say otherwise. Got it?”

May nodded, looking a little scared. They both knew she was in no shape to fight if something went down, and the sudden feeling of foreboding in the air had them both on edge.

As they crept along, May stuck to June as if she were the older girl’s shadow, keeping watch over the rear while her sister retained a vigil of everything else. Eventually, however, the girls began to relax. They’d been wandering for what felt like hours with absolutely nothing happening, and they couldn’t figure out if there was anyone else around or if they were even going anywhere. Despite this, it wasn’t altogether awful, as they somehow still had their backpacks full of clothes, gear, and supplies. But it was still boring, and there wasn’t much the girls could do about that. Finally, they just stopped walking and flopped down back to back, leaning on each other for support.

“So where do you think we are? Besides the Anti-Void,” May asked, taking the bottle of water June offered her.

“Dunno. The Anti-Void is basically a whole lotta nothin’. I mean, look. Right there. Now _that’s_ a whole lotta nothin’. And over there? Best looking bit of nothin’ I’ve ever seen. And-and this big fat chunk of nothin’ we’re somehow sitting on? Fuckin’ marvelous. I can’t even _begin_ to describe how amazing this patch of nothin’ is.”

“Okay, okay. I get your point,” May laughed, handing back the water. “Don’t make me choke. Ya jerk.”

“Good. That’d at least be something interesting out here. I mean, how long have we even been here? And not only have we not so much as crossed that spot where we first encountered Ink and Error, but we have yet to see any signs of life. Of any kind. Hell, if we’re stuck here for much longer, I think even _Error_ would be a welcome sight.”

“Ha! Okay, wow. Don’t even joke about that. That’s not funny.”

“You laughed.”

“It was a sarcastic laugh. It wasn’t funny. _You’re_ not funny.”

June mocked being offended by the statement and leaned so that May would fall over, at which point the girls started play arguing back and forth over whether or not the older girl was actually funny. Eventually, they settled on that she was funny sometimes and shifted their positions so that June was lying on her back with one arm tucked under her head for a pillow, and May was cuddled up against her sister, head tucked into the tattooed teen’s abdomen. Both girls were tired from how long they’d walked, and May still needed to rest from straining her magic before, so the break was a welcome one. As they settled down to sleep, however, they lapsed into a thoughtful silence not totally uncommon to them. The silence was only broken by May, whose voice had become sleepy as they laid there.

“Do you think we’ll ever find a way out? Or a way home?”

“I don’t know, May. But we’re gonna try. Get some sleep, okay, baby girl?”

The younger made a small noise, meant to be an affirmative as she cuddled closer to her sibling. June gently stroked her sister’s hair until she, too, fell asleep.

When the girls woke up, they continued the cycle of walking aimlessly around in the Anti-Void, searching for…anything, really. And as neither one had any real way to tell the passage of time in the expanse of blank nothingness, they mostly kept track of the “days” from then on as the passing of sleep cycles. By the time the girls were running low on the supplies they’d packed, it was almost a blessing that June’s instincts kicked in again.

“Hold up. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“my, my. you sure have a strong sense of intuition for an anomaly.”

The girls whipped around, surprised that Error had managed to sneak up on them. May gasped, while June instantly growled, her stance automatically shifting to defend the smaller girl.

Error…surprisingly enough, was looking worse for wear. His clothes were wrinkled and messy, and underneath the blue lines stretched down his face were what appeared to be dark circles. He even looked less menacing than usual, his dark energy lacking its punch this time around, and the eternal grin that all the Sanses wore wasn’t as big as normal. Still, he chuckled lowly, staying a safe distance from them.

“and here i thought you might be happy to see me after wandering around in here by yourselves for creator knows how long. i’d ask you how long you’ve been wandering my cozy little corner of this hell, but as time has no meaning here, and it’s almost impossible to keep track of it as long as you’re here…it’d be like a broken pencil. _pointless._ ”

He chuckled at his own joke, neither one of the girls reacting to the pun more than glancing at each other briefly and staring at him in confusion.

“Your corner of the Anti-Void?” May questioned, “What does that mean?”

“exactly what it sounds like. that place we first met? practically a pocket dimension of its own. frankly, so is this one. though keeping my pocket protected from the prying eyes of others is a little annoying, _tibia_ honest.”

“Okay, is it just a thing with you guys that every version of you has to say that to us at least once?” June blurted out, relaxing her stance ever so slightly. There was a point when hearing the same joke over and over got old, after all.

“Actually, Sansy never told us that one. But he didn’t actually make puns…” May interjected, thinking. Error arched a brow bone at the girl.

“sansy?”

“My nickname for the Sans from the universe where Gaster was experimenting on them. I didn’t like that Gaster very much. But that Sans was very sweet. And he wanted his own nickname, so I gave him one.”

“ah. i see. you’re talking about the dimension i intentionally lead you to.”

“Intentionally – _what?_ You mean you didn’t actually do anything to that universe?”

“no. i didn’t need to. it was so messed up the way it was that it didn’t need my help. it needed yours, however.”

“Huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“well, you two were dead set on helping these other timelines, yes?”

“Were and still are, yeah.”

“What about it?”

“well, that timeline was doomed from the moment that gaster chose to treat his sans and papyrus like test subjects instead of sons. when you mentioned following me back in that first universe – the one where everyone is trying to kill each other – and you repeated the action in the second universe – the outer space one – i knew i could use that to my advantage. i knew there wasn’t much of anything i could do to correct that timeline, so i let you do it for me. tossing the old man in the core may have been a bit much, but it got the job done. bravo for that.”

June fought the urge to snap at him and correct him when he mentioned Fell and Outer, but when he brought up the incident at the Core, she gritted her teeth in anger for him even mentioning it, yet looked away in guilt and shame. May couldn’t stand to see her sister hurt like that, and it brought out the braver side of her.

“What do you want, Error? I know you’re not here just because you wanted to talk.”

The glitchy skeleton examined her with a sneer, the look changing to one of mild surprise and something close to being impressed.

“for someone so small, you sure have a big mouth. but that aside, i see now that you’ve grown some since i last saw you. and i don’t mean back in the universe with all the kids, i was barely paying attention to you then. i mean back in the first universe. both of you have grown, but you more so than the older one. you…that’s right. you were using magic back there, weren’t you? and you didn’t have that before. ah, but i see it now. i was really hoping you wouldn’t find out about your being mages. but i suppose it was going to happen eventually, since the older one’s magic was leaking out to begin with. ah, well. really, it just makes eliminating you more challenging. which could be both good and bad. good because challenging is entertaining. bad because it means more work for me.”

“Was there a point somewhere in there where you tell us what the hell you want?” June snapped, readying herself for another fight. “Or is you new plan to talk us to death?”

“i didn’t realize the anti-void had an echo,” Error rolled his eyes at her as she shot him a fierce glare. “oh! but that does give me an excellent idea. you two are always together. one protecting the other and vice-a-versa. something about you working together always manages to ruin my plans, one way or another. so how about we try something new?”

Suddenly, Error’s strings descended from the air above them, wrapping both sisters up and pulling them physically away from each other. They both cried out and struggled, but the blue cables were just too strong for them to worm their way out of. Error’s maniacal grin stretched wider across his face was he watched them squirm.

“you two are so close. nothing gets between you. and that means you’re all the stronger when you’re together. you lean on each other for support. you take potentially fatal injuries for each other. you push yourselves to the brink, all in the name of you sibling. but it makes me wonder…if you two are so strong together…just how long would you survive if you were split up?”

Now he cast out both his hands, opening rifts into two different dimensions behind both the sisters.

“let’s find out.”

Panic set in for the girls just as Error lifted them up a little higher into the air and threw them both into the portals he’d opened, their screams mingling with his own frenzied laughter.


	32. Down and Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Gaster appears early in the chapter! So his text will be in its usual ROT2 cipher, with translations after the text. Oh, and **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!!_** At the very beginning of the chapter, which focuses on June briefly, there is mention of major character injury. If you don't wanna read that, just skip until you see the dashed line. There'll be a summary of that part in the end notes. Enjoy, guys. -S

June’s body reacted before her mind even registered Error had let her go, twisting around so she could launch herself either to save her sister or attack Error. But the effort was in vain, as she felt the familiar pull of gravity just as her mind caught up with her.

Error had thrown her – physically thrown her, like before – into this universe, wherever it was, and though some part of her knew it was foolish to hope so, her eyes scanned the darkness around her for any sign of May. Instead, she saw the opening Error had made closing behind her – or was it above her? Both? Both, it seemed, as she watched it actually get smaller with the distance. She then tried turning herself over in the air as she fell, still frantically searching the blackness speeding by her for her sister.

Had she been paying closer attention to her surroundings, she would have noticed the importance of the fact that Error had thrown her into the universe, rather than just dropped her in. Had she been straight towards the ground, or even at a slower rate, she would have been fine, maybe even having enough time to realize the danger she was in and correct her course. But the extra force Error threw her with, added to the angle of her descent through the air, set her on a collision course with a stalactite that hung particularly low.

And she didn’t see it coming.

June only knew there was something in her path when she clipped the stalactite with her leg, hard enough that both the rock and the limb broke. Fiery pain shot up her leg and she cried out, instinctively twisting in the air as she did. This turned out to make things worse, as clipping the stalactite knocked her off course some, sending her careening into a tree. Since she still carried much of her speed, she hit the tree with enough force to send a flare of pain through her arm and side, though whether that meant they were broken or not, she couldn’t tell. The teen was already seeing stars from the amount of pain she was in, screaming at the dual hits to her arm and side, when the tree bowed a little from the effort of stopping her momentum. She barely had time to register the fact before she was flung from the towering plant and flying through the air again, this time hitting the side of a building. June slammed into the offending obstacle with enough force that when her head impacted, the only noise she could let out was a sharp squawk of pain before darkness overcame her vision.

June was out cold before she even hit the ground.

**\-------------------------------------------**

May shrieked for her sister as she was flung into her universe, Error’s insane laughter filtering through the rift he created before it snapped shut again, plunging her into darkness. She screamed as she fell, unable to see where she was going, and not knowing how far she would fall before landing. Without June, she wasn’t exactly guaranteed a safe landing, and with nothing or no one else there to catch her…

Suddenly, May felt something, a very familiar something wrapping around her, centered in her Soul. Her breath caught and she stopped screaming, if only to freeze as a burst of primal fear ripped through her. It was blue magic, which she hadn’t felt since they had left the universe with the Gaster who had experimented on his Sans and Papyrus. But she relaxed as she felt the magic correcting her position in the air and slowing her down, realizing that it wasn’t going to harm her, instead saving her from falling to her death.

There were only three people she knew of that used primarily blue magic: Sans, June, and Gaster. She knew it was unlikely that it was her sister, but hoped it was anyway. Though Sans was a close second for who she hoped was the one catching her. Which was why she was surprised to see a monster she didn’t recognize gently lowering her to the ground in front of it. What threw her off at first was the inky black coloring it had, and how it seemed to be more of a puddle of monster goop than having any kind of real shape or form. But when she spotted its hands, then face when she looked up, her expression changed to one of shock.

“Gaster?” she gasped, openly gaping at the skeleton man. He looked at her in surprise, gingerly setting her on the ground before tilting his head in confusion.

"K'o uqtta, nkvvng qpg, dwv...jqy fq aqw mpqy og? K co swkvg egtvckp yg jcxg pqv ogv dghqtg." _(I’m sorry, little one, but...how do you know me? I am quite certain we have not met before.)_

“Oh, right. I always forget that you can’t remember us for some reason. But at least this means you aren’t one of the Gasters I already know! But…gosh, Gaster! What happened to you? You look like a lump of modeling clay come to life!”

Gaster only looked more perplexed, but continued to speak.

"Vjgtg ycu cp ceekfgpv kp oa vkognkpg. K hgnn kpvq vjg Eqtg cpf ycu tgfwegf vq yjcv aqw ugg dghqtg aqw. Cpf, yjkng rgtjcru wphncvvgtkpi, aqwt fguetkrvkqp qh oa crrgctcpeg ku...wphqtvwpcvgna ceewtcvg. Dwv cickp, K owuv cum – jqy fq aqw mpqy og, ejknf?" _(There was an accident in my timeline. I fell into the Core and was reduced to what you see before you. And, while perhaps unflattering, your description of my appearance is...unfortunately accurate. But again, I must ask – how do you know me, child?)_

“Oh…gosh…I’m so sorry, Gaster. That really sucks. And sorry. I…really need to learn to think before I speak. Oh, and to answer your question, I know you because we’ve met before. You just don’t remember it because they were different versions of you. I’ve only met two of the other yous, but the first one was really nice. He’s from the universe we call Science. The other one, he…I didn’t like him.”

This Gaster seemed to catch on quickly, realizing that the version of him she didn’t like was a topic she didn’t want to talk about, electing not to press the matter of that particular one further. Instead, he asked about the Science Gaster, to which May instantly brightened again.

“Oh, well, like I said, he’s really nice. But I’m guessing you want to know how I met him. Well, it’s kind of a long story. Got the time to listen to it?”

Gaster nodded, squishing down into what she guessed was his approximation of a sitting position when she settled down onto the ground herself. She then proceeded to explain to him everything thus far, even delving into the less friendly Gaster’s actions. The goop-like Gaster recoiled in horror at that, gently offering his support and sympathy for the small girl. But by the end of the tale, there was another look on his face – one that she knew well, if only because it was one she saw often on her sister’s face. It was one of gears turning inside the mind, of an idea taking shape. And frankly, she was curious where his train of thought was going.

“I know it’s kind of a lot to process. I mean, actually thinking about it…I have like no idea how much time has actually passed since we left our original universe, but I think it’s been about a couple of months? Maybe? And a lot’s happened. It’s a bit overwhelming if I think on it for too long.”

"K ecp qpna kocikpg, nkvvng qpg. Aqw jcxg dggp vjtqwij uq owej. Agv, aqw ocpcig vq mggr iqkpi. Aqw tgvckp aqwt rqukvkxkva kp vjg fctmguv ukvwcvkqp. Vjgtg ku uqogvjkpi vq dg cfoktgf cdqwv vjcv." _(I can only imagine, little one. You have been through so much. Yet, you manage to keep going. You retain your positivity in the darkest situation. There is something to be admired about that.)_

May glowed in the praise, giving him a big sunny smile and thanking him. He returned her smile, then continued.

"Rgtjcru aqw'f nkmg uqogvjkpi gnug vq vjkpm cdqwv? Iqqf. Ygnn, aqw ugg, oa wpkxgtug...uqogvjkpi vgttkdng jcu jcrrgpgf vq kv. Kv ku owej nkmg aqwtu – vjg qtkikpcn – dwv wpnkmg aqwtu, pq qpg igvu c jcrra gpfkpi. Cpf yg egtvckpna fkfp'v gpf wr ykvj c jwocp cu uyggv cpf ectkpi cu aqw hcnnkpi kpvq vjg Wpfgtitqwpf. Pq, yjcv yg jcxg kpuvgcf...ku uqogvjkpi gnug gpvktgna. C fgoqp ocuswgtcfkpi cu c ejknf. Vjg pwodgt qh oqpuvgtu ctg fykpfnkpi, cpf uqqp, kv yknn dg vqq ncvg vq ucxg vjgo. Dwv K dgnkgxg vjgtg ku c yca vq ucxg vjgo, vq uvqr vjg ejknf, vq dtkpi dcem cnn vjqug nquv vq vjgkt tcorcig. Dwv –" _(Perhaps you’d like something else to think about? Good. Well, you see, my universe...something terrible has happened to it. It is much like yours – the original – but unlike yours, no one gets a happy ending. And we certainly didn’t end up with a human as sweet and caring as you falling into the Underground. No, what we have instead...is something else entirely. A demon masquerading as a child. The number of monsters are dwindling, and soon, it will be too late to save them. But I believe there is a way to save them, to stop the child, to bring back all those lost to their rampage. But –)_

“Yes.”

"Yjcv?" _(What?)_

“I know you probably had this big speech already thought out, but really? You don’t need to convince me. I want to help. So honestly, it’d be faster to skip all the rest of it and get to the part where I say yes, and you tell me what it is I need to do. Oh, and let’s also skip the part where you’re reluctant to ask me to help because I’ve already been through so much. Yeah, I have, but those things have made me a smarter, wiser, and stronger person. And I don’t care that it’ll be dangerous. After all that stuff? Yeah, I’ll be scared, but I’m not gonna run away. I’m not gonna back down. You guys need help, and that’s not something I can ignore. So again, skipping all the other unnecessary junk – yes. Name what needs to be done, and I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen.”

Gaster was stunned into silence, May just giving him a knowing little smile. May’s small stature and pixie-like appearance belied not just a big heart, but a surprisingly sharp mind for her age. Not having June’s raw strength or stamina, the younger Skies sister had learned that being underestimated was actually her biggest strategic advantage – and she more than played up her image of being an innocent and oblivious kid. Sometimes, she really was that innocent and oblivious (being as young as she was, being a little naïve came with the territory), but for the most part, it was an act to fool others into letting down their guard with her. She was even good enough to fool her own sister, which was something she was secretly very proud of. But in moments like this, where it was easier and faster to explain that she knew a little more than they realized she did, she didn’t mind hinting that there was more to her than meets the eye. In fact, it took a lot of effort on her part in moments like this not to laugh at people’s shocked expressions.

Gaster was recovering from the surprise better than most did, she admitted that.

"Ygnn. K...aqw uggo vq jcxg ocfg wr aqwt okpf qp vjku." _(Well. I...you seem to have made up your mind on this.)_

“You say that as if you weren’t planning on asking me,” she snorted, dropping the knowing smile for a more mirthful smirk. This seemed to fluster Gaster more, as he fumbled about for a bit for the words he was trying to say. Finally, May laughed, relaxing the skeleton monster.

“It’s okay, Gaster. Really, I don’t mind. Just tell me what I have to do.”

He nodded, the mood turning more serious as he settled back in.

"Yjcv K pggf aqw vq fq ku eqphtqpv vjg ejknf tgurqpukdng hqt cnn vjku cpf hkpf c yca vq Tgugv vjg vkognkpg." _(What I need you to do is confront the child responsible for all this and find a way to Reset the timeline.)_

“…Reset the timeline?” she asked, giving him a blank look. Gaster blinked, then smiled patiently at her.

"Agu. Aqw ugg, aqw cpf aqwt ukuvgt ctg pqv vjg qpna jwocpu vq rquuguu ocike. Kp vjku vkognkpg, vjgtg ku cpqvjgt. Vjg ejknf K mggr urgcmkpi qh. Vjgkt ocike ku tgf, yjkej ogcpu vjga jcxg vjg cdknkva vq ocpkrwncvg vjg hnqy qh vkog cu vjga ugg hkv wukpi c rctvkewnct uauvgo qh urgnnu. Vjqug urgnnu ctg mpqyp cu vjg hqnnqykpi: Ucxg, Nqcf, cpf Tgugv. Ucxkpi ku yjgp vjga rnceg c octmgt kp vkog, mggrkpi vtcem qh cpa rtqitguu vjga jcxg ocfg. Cu nqpi cu vjga jcxg c Ucxg, vjg ejknf yknn cnycau tgvwtp vq vjcv oqogpv kp vkog ujqwnf uqogvjkpi jcrrgp vq vjgo. Dwv kv'u pqv lwuv vjgo – vjg vkognkpg kvugnh tgykpfu vq vjcv rqkpv cu ygnn, cnnqykpi vjgo vq ocmg cu ocpa okuvcmgu cu vjga rngcug...cnnqykpi vjgo vq ngctp vjg rcvvgtpu qh vjg oqpuvgtu vjga hkijv, uq vjga fqp'v nqug vq vjgo cickp, ykvj oquv oqpuvgtu pqpg vjg ykugt. Vjgp yg jcxg Nqcf cpf Tgugv. Vjga ctg ukoknct, dwv vjg fkhhgtgpeg ku gzvtgogna korqtvcpv. C Nqcf ku yjgp vjg ejknf – qh vjgkt qyp ejqqukpi – tgykpfu vjg vkognkpg dcem vq vjg ncuv vkog vjga Ucxgf. Vjku cnuq tgxgtugu cpa ejqkegu vjga ocfg, cpf ocmgu cnoquv gxgtaqpg hqtigv gxgtavjkpi vjcv jcrrgpgf chvgt vjg rqkpv vjg ejknf ocfg vjgkt ncuv Ucxg. C Tgugv ku yjgp vjg ejknf ejqqugu vq tgoqxg vjgkt ncuv Ucxg cpf tgykpf vjg vkognkpg gpvktgna, dcem vq vjg rqkpv vjga hktuv hgnn kpvq vjg Wpfgtitqwpf. C Tgugv gtcugu cnn rtqitguu vjg ejknf ocfg vjtqwij vjg Wpfgtitqwpf vq vjcv rqkpv, cpf cnnqyu vjg ejknf vq uvctv htguj...oquvna. Vjg oqpuvgtu yqp'v tgogodgt vjgo, dwv vjga yknn xciwgna tgeqipkbg vjg ejknf, cpf fgrgpfkpi qp vjg cevkqpu qh vjg ejknf dghqtg vjg Tgugv, vjga yknn gkvjgt cuuqekcvg vjg ejknf ykvj uqogvjkpi iqqf qt uqogvjkpi dcf." _(Yes. You see, you and your sister are not the only humans to possess magic. In this timeline, there is another. The child I keep speaking of. Their magic is red, which means they have the ability to manipulate the flow of time as they see fit using a particular system of spells. Those spells are known as the following: Save, Load, and Reset. Saving is when they place a marker in time, keeping track of any progress they have made. As long as they have a Save, the child will always return to that moment in time should something happen to them. But it’s not just them – the timeline itself rewinds to that point as well, allowing them to make as many mistakes as they please...allowing them to learn the patterns of the monsters they fight, so they don’t lose to them again, with most monsters none the wiser. Then we have Load and Reset. They are similar, but the difference is extremely important. A Load is when the child – of their own choosing – rewinds the timeline back to the last time they Saved. This also reverses any choices they made, and makes almost everyone forget everything that happened after the point the child made their last Save. A Reset is when the child chooses to remove their last Save and rewind the timeline entirely, back to the point they first fell into the Underground. A Reset erases all progress the child made through the Underground to that point, and allows the child to start fresh…mostly. The monsters won’t remember them, but they will vaguely recognize the child, and depending on the actions of the child before the Reset, they will either associate the child with something good or something bad.)_

“Wait, hold up. How can they recognize the kid if their memories were erased? Is it like a deja vu kind of thing? Like, they remember a feeling more than they actually remember the kid or what they did?”

"Uqogvjkpi nkmg vjcv, agu. Vq dg c nkvvng engctgt...vjga jcxg pq eqpuekqwu ogoqtkgu qh vjg ejknf qt vjgkt cevkqpu, dwv uqog rctv qh vjgo fqgu tgogodgt, cpf vjcv rctv cycmgpu cp kpuvkpev kp vjgo. Yjgvjgt vjcv kpuvkpev ku ceeqorcpkgf da c iqqf qt dcf hggnkpi fgrgpfu gpvktgna wrqp vjg cevkqpu qh vjg ejknf dghqtg vjg Tgugv qeewttgf." _(Something like that, yes. To be a little clearer...they have no conscious memories of the child or their actions, but some part of them does remember, and that part awakens an instinct in them. Whether that instinct is accompanied by a good or bad feeling depends entirely upon the actions of the child before the Reset occurred.)_

“Okay. So it’s a bit like a video game. Saving is like recording your progress in game, and coming back to it after you die or something. Loading is going back to that Save if something goes wrong and you wanna fix it. And Resetting is just that – setting everything back to square one. Almost. Wait, you said _most_ monsters were affected by the Saves and Loads and Resets. But most isn’t everyone. So is there an exception to that?”

"Agu, cevwcnna. Iqqfpguu, ctg cnn jwocpu cu dtkijv cu aqw?" _(Yes, actually. Goodness, are all humans as bright as you?)_

“Um, I don’t know, actually,” May replied sheepishly, “I’m still in school, so I’m sure there are a lot of people smarter than me. Like my big sister! But we’re getting off topic. The exception to the rules of red magic?”

"Cj, agu, qh eqwtug. Htqo aqwt vcng, kv yqwnf uggo aqw cntgcfa mpqy jko. Dwv, cu aqw pqvkegf ykvj qvjgt xgtukqpu qh jko, jg yknn pqv mpqy aqw. Vjg gzegrvkqp ku oa uqp, Ucpu." _(Ah, yes, of course. From your tale, it would seem you already know him. But, as you noticed with other versions of him, he will not know you. The exception is my son, Sans.)_

May’s eyes went wide, sparkles dancing in her icy hues as she gaped at Gaster.

“Sans? That’s…actually, that makes a lot of sense. Wait, so why is he the exception? Is he the only one?”

"Jg ku vjg qpna qpg dgukfgu aqw, og, cpf vjg ejknf yjq mpqyu vjg vtwvj cpf tgogodgtu kv cnn. Ygnn, cpf vjcv hnqygt, dwv jg ku pqv uqogvjkpi vq eqpegtp aqwtugnh ykvj cv vjku rqkpv. Cu hqt yja...K'o chtckf kv ycu oa hcwnv. Aqw ugg, vjg ceekfgpv vjcv ecwugf og vq dgeqog vjg uvcvg K'o kp tkijv pqy cnuq chhgevgf Ucpu. Vjqwij, cu aqw ecp ugg, jg ycu pqv cu dcfna chhgevgf cu K ycu. Jqygxgt, dgecwug qh vjcv ceekfgpv, jg tgogodgtu gxgtavjkpi. Cpf jg ku vjg qpna qpg vq fq uq." _(He is the only one besides you, me, and the child who knows the truth and remembers it all. Well, and that flower, but he is not something to concern yourself with at this point. As for why...I’m afraid it was my fault. You see, the accident that caused me to become the state I’m in right now also affected Sans. Though, as you can see, he was not as badly affected as I was. However, because of that accident, he remembers everything. And he is the only one to do so.)_

“Oh my gosh! Poor Sans! He must be going crazy, being the only one who remembers! It’d be so lonely for everyone else to forget everything and be the only one who knows. Ooh, I’m really eager to get started now! And you said all I have to do is confront the kid responsible for the bad things in your timeline and find a way to Reset it, right? Wait. I don’t have red magic. Just green and purple. How am I supposed to Reset the timeline? And what exactly has the kid done, anyway? You called them a demon pretending to be a child…”

"Cj, ygnn...jqpguvna, K'o pqv uwtg jqy aqw yqwnf iq cdqwv Tgugvvkpi vjg vkognkpg ykvjqwv tgf ocike. Dwv vjgtg ku rwtrng kp aqwt Uqwn hqt c tgcuqp. K jcxg c hggnkpi aqw yknn hkpf c yca. Cu hqt yjcv kv ku vjg ejknf jcu fqpg...K ecp uchgna rtqokug aqw vjcv aqw yknn pqv nkmg vjg cpuygt, nkvvng qpg." _(Ah, well...honestly, I’m not sure how you would go about Resetting the timeline without red magic. But there is purple in your Soul for a reason. I have a feeling you will find a way. As for what it is the child has done...I can safely promise you that you will not like the answer, little one.)_

“Look, I already told you. I’m in this. Nothing you say is gonna scare me off now. So whatever it is they’ve done – I can take it.”

Gaster hesitated, looking at her sadly. But she stood firm, unwavering determination in her eyes. This gave him pause as well, but he sighed, knowing she was just going to wait until he told her. Even without the determination she currently felt…as he’d pointed out, her Soul was half purple. And perseverance was a close second to determination.

"Xgta ygnn, fgct. Dwv fqp'v uca K fkfp'v yctp aqw. Vjg ejknf...vjga jcxg iqpg vjtqwij cpf fwuvgf gxgta oqpuvgt vjga'xg gpeqwpvgtgf vjwu hct." _(Very well, dear. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. The child...they have gone through and dusted every monster they’ve encountered thus far.)_

“Dusted?” May practically whispered, hesitating to ask. From the expression on Gaster’s face and the feeling of dread in her heart, she knew it wasn’t going to mean anything good.

"Agu. Dgecwug yg ctg dgkpiu ocfg qh ocike, yjgp c oqpuvgt fkgu, vjg qpna rjaukecn ocvvgt yg jcxg vq ngcxg dgjkpf ku c rkng qh fwuv." _(Yes. Because we are beings made of magic, when a monster dies, the only physical matter we have to leave behind is a pile of dust.)_

“So when you say someone was dusted…” May paled, realizing the implication. “It’s the same as saying someone killed them…and-and this kid – this kid just…went around _killing people?_ Oh my god. Oh god, no. Toriel? Undyne? Muffet?”

"Cnn fwuvgf cv vjg jcpfu qh vjcv fgoqpke ejknf." _(All dusted at the hands of that demonic child.)_

“P-Papyrus?”

May was afraid to hope that the sweet, gentle, tall skeleton had been spared. He was just too kind, like her. Kind and innocent and friendly and thoughtful. Her other friends hadn’t deserved it either, but if anyone didn’t deserve to be hurt in any way, it was Papyrus. Surely the kid had seen that. Surely –

"Rcratwu vqq." _(Papyrus too.)_ Gaster whispered, his head lowered in mourning.

May gasped, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. A whirlwind of emotion coursed through her mind, but at the eye of it all was that lone thought. Papyrus, dead. Turned to dust. From there, it was chaos. How could someone have hurt him? Why? Who would do such a thing to someone like Papyrus? She’d seen such a kindred spirit in him, and somehow, she’d ended up in a universe where his light had been snuffed out. The world would be a much darker place without him in it. And Sans, oh, he’d be devastated. The skeletal brothers were as close as May and June were. For Sans to lose Papyrus…then it hit her.

“Oh god, Sans,” she murmured, looking back up at Gaster. “He’s…is he…does he…”

"Jg ku uvknn cnkxg, cpf cnn vqq cyctg qh vjg hcvg qh jku dtqvjgt. Cpf qh cnn vjg qvjgt oqpuvgtu vq jcxg etquugf vjg rcvj qh vjku ejknf. Jg ku vjg gzegrvkqp, tgogodgt?" _(He is still alive, and all too aware of the fate of his brother. And of all the other monsters to have crossed the path of this child. He is the exception, remember?)_

May blinked, nodding. She wiped away the few tears that had escaped at the thought of Papyrus, a new concern crossing her mind.

“Wait. So, does that mean he’s gonna…he’s gonna try and stop the kid, isn’t he?”

"Agu." _(Yes.)_

“But…but if they dusted all these other monsters…I mean, Sans is strong, I know that, but…he’s not gonna stand a chance, is he?”

"K...fq pqv mpqy. Dwv vjgtg ku qpg vjkpi K fq mpqy: kh vjga fq hkijv, qpna qpg qh vjgo yknn ycnm cyca cnkxg. Cpf ikxgp vjg pcvwtg qh vjg ejknf'u ocike..." _(I...do not know. But there is one thing I do know: if they do fight, only one of them will walk away alive. And given the nature of the child’s magic...)_

“Then he doesn’t have much time,” May replied, hastily standing back up. Gaster looked surprised, then lengthened his goopy body again, most likely his approximation of standing. The little girl looked up at him, her eyes shining with new conviction and resolve. If he thought that telling her about the others would change her mind, he was wrong.

“Send me in.”

"Yjcv?" _(What?)_

“Send me in. Or out. Or…whatever it is you have to do to get me out of here and to somewhere where I can help Sans.”

"Ctg aqw uwtg cdqwv vjku, nkvvng qpg? Fq aqw jcxg c rncp hqt yjcv aqw'tg iqkpi vq fq qpeg aqw igv vjgtg?" _(Are you sure about this, little one? Do you have a plan for what you’re going to do once you get there?)_

“Yes, I’m sure. No, I don’t really have a set plan, but I’m resourceful. I’ll figure something out.”

"Aqw tgcnna fqp'v jcxg vq fq vjku." _(You really don’t have to do this.)_

“Yes, I do. Now please, just do it! The longer we stand here talking about it, the less time Sans has. So let’s go already!”

Gaster huffed a sigh and shook his head at her, but raised a hand to her anyway, gently touching her forehead.

"Ngv'u jqrg aqw mpqy yjcv aqw'tg fqkpi, ejknf. Iqqf nwem." _(Let’s hope you know what you’re doing, child. Good luck.)_

With that, he pushed on her forehead until she fell backwards, suddenly back to tumbling through darkness with no end in sight.

The next thing she knew, she was laying in her own bed when she woke up with a startled gasp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Section Summary:** When Error threw June into the new universe, she initially looked for May on the slim chance they'd wind up still together. However, she didn't account for the fact that Error threw her with some force, which added to her speed as she fell through the air. This also set her on a crash course with a low-hanging stalactite. After colliding with it and receiving her first injury, she ended up hitting a tree as well, adding to her second and third injuries, before being flung from the branches. The last injury was when she slammed into a building. She was unconscious from the pain and resulting head injury before she could hit the ground.
> 
> **Credit to the Creator:** This ~~painful~~ lovely idea, [Underlevel](https://nightsilverchelly.deviantart.com/journal/Undertale-AU-Underlevel-593687481).


	33. This Chapter got Out of Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title says it all for this one. I may or may not have accidentally gone a little nuts on this chapter...oh, and even though Gaster does not show up in this chapter, his speech still does, so it'll be in the usual ROT2 cipher, with the translation after the text.
> 
> Oh, and **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!!!_** This chapter delves some into June's past, and thus is kinda dark. Her past has mentions of alcoholism, domestic and child abuse, and character death. That, and there is the barest mention of blood early in, along with the healing of the major character injury from the last chapter. Rather than fence that stuff off, this chapter is skippable, despite it being a key point to revealing things about June's character. I'll try to summarize it in the end notes, for those who want to skip the chapter. -S

Smoke wisped through the air from the cigarette the lanky skeleton sitting at his desk had dangling from his mouth. He was hunched over piles of paper, going over his notes for the…oh, fuck it. He’d lost track of how many times he’d gone over the same set of notes, trying to figure out why this had happened to his universe. Why was snow suddenly warm, but wouldn’t melt? Why had lava turned cold, but still behaved like lava? Why were there fucking Echo Flowers everywhere? And on top of it all, _where the hell had Frisk disappeared to after the Reset?_ She was supposed to be here by now…

G sighed to himself, putting the paper down in favor of rubbing his temples. Usually smoking helped take the edge off his nerves, but right now, it was doing little to impede the building headache he had beating the insides of his skull. Maybe stepping out for a bit would help. Get some fresh air, stretch his legs, casually go look for the missing human…

Just as he got up to do just that, grumbling under his breath about how much of a pain in the ass it was to have to go look for Frisk, cigarette bobbing up and down as he muttered to himself –

Alarms all around him stared blaring, lights were flashing, and he was so startled, he did a full body flinch, cigarette dropping out of his mouth.

"Uvctu hwemkpi cdqxg!" _(Stars fucking above!)_ G shouted before he could stop himself. Then he turned back around to his machine, wondering what the fuck had set it off.

“Anomaly detected,” the female voice told him, the calm robotic voice grating on his nerves for once.

“no fucking shit,” he muttered, barely audible above the alarms. He quickly stomped out his cigarette on the floor before sitting back down at his desk, eyes focused on the screen in front of him. 

“frisk, you little shit, this has better be you…” G added as the computer repeated itself, pulling the keyboard out from under the mess of papers strewn about. He typed in the commands to get one of the many cameras Alphys had placed around the Underground to focus in on the anomaly, finding…not the teenaged Frisk, but instead what appeared to be a rip in the ceiling of the Underground.

“the hell?”

And really, those two words summed up his thoughts. A rip in the fabric of reality, it seemed, placed almost right at the topmost point it could get in this section of the Underground. Whatever was on the other side of the rip was blinding white, though he could swear he saw something long and blue, too. But he couldn’t get the camera to zoom in enough to make out details. So the sole thought going through his mind as he clicked away on the keyboard, trying to get a better view: what fresh hell was this?

“Anomaly detected,” the voice said again, to which he grumbled back, “i heard ya the first dozen times. now kindly –”

“Universe breach,” the computer cut him off, the alarms suddenly going dead. “An anomaly has entered the universe.”

At the same time, the blue things he saw (ropes, maybe? It was difficult to tell) swept in through the rip, carrying something darkly colored and moving fast. Then the blue whatever it was released its cargo, unceremoniously tossing the thing into the air before retreating back through the rip, which closed behind it. But now the camera was locked on to the thing it had left behind, now twisting and falling from where the thing had been thrown.

Though slightly blurred from the quality of the camera, he had to mentally correct himself as he sucked in a breath of surprise at what he was looking at. Not a thing, a girl. A human girl. Whatever that was had just deposited a new human into the Underground. Did this – whatever this was – have anything to do with why Frisk hadn’t shown up? He didn’t have time to think on it as the camera panned, and G got a better look at the girl’s trajectory. Even without his mind running through the calculations, he could see it wasn’t going to end well for her. She was moving far too fast, and at her current angle of descent, she wasn’t going to clear the –

“look out!” he hissed, standing in his agitation, just a second before her leg clipped the low-hanging stalactite. He didn’t need to see the way her leg bent all wrong from hitting the stone pillar, the rock that crumbled away from the impact, or the expression on her face to know that by the time she made it to the ground, she’d be in a lot of pain and would need help. And that was assuming she would survive the fall in the first place.

That thought sent him bolting for the stairs of his basement/personal lab. The second he opened the door, though, he froze for the briefest moment, the sound of her screaming in pain reaching him. If the sound was any indicator, she was close, and that had him running again. He thought of using his teleportation to reach her in time, but he had no idea where she would be from the ground, so running and hoping were his only options.

Not long after the first scream, another rang out, closer to him this time, but worse than the first. He turned towards the sound, snow flying up under his boots as he ran, swearing under his breath the whole way. She’d evidently hit something else on her way down – she had to have, for her to make a sound like that – but he suddenly skidded to a stop, his mind going blank as he watched the tree she’d slammed into bowing from stopping her momentum. Then, faster than he could react, the tree straightened again, flinging her from its branches and right into the side of a building. The way her head collided with it and the pained squawk she made – so much softer than her screams, he would have missed it if he hadn’t been so close – he just knew she had taken too much damage. When she dropped the short distance left to the ground, she was limp, not moving after landing in the snow with a small thump.

G felt guilt wash over him. He hadn’t been fast enough. For the human to just be limp like that, to just lay there and not move after all that, she had to be dead. Still, he took a few shaky steps closer to her, kneeling when he was next to her. With his mind so quiet, so distant and shut off, it was easy for him to assess the damage she’d taken. Right leg and left arm broken, a definite head injury (he almost didn’t need to brush her hair out of the way to see the blood trickling from the open gash across her forehead and temple), possibly more. In short, she was pretty badly messed up.

But something caught his eye that made his breath catch as hope stirred in his Soul: regardless of the snow being warm without melting, it was still cold in Snowdin – cold enough to see a little bit of air ghosting from between her lips. Gingerly, so not to hurt her any more than she already was, G picked her up with his magic and turned her over in the air, hoping he hadn’t imagined it. He couldn’t help the relieved grin that broke across his face when he saw that he was right. Somehow, she had survived the fall and was still breathing. His smile fell, though, when he remembered how hurt she was. She wouldn’t make it long if he didn’t do something in a hurry.

So, without giving it a second’s thought, he made her float behind him as he dashed back to his house and back down the stairs of his basement lab.

Healing the human girl was stressful work, he realized over the course of the next week. She naturally healed faster than Frisk did when she’d been hurt, but the extent of this girl’s injuries extended her healing time. Not to mention making sure she had all the basic necessities a human needed while she was still unconscious was a pain. And the constant worry of leaving her alone had him tethered to his house the whole time, which was driving him crazy. He needed to be out studying what was happening to his universe and looking for Frisk, but instead here he was, watching over an unconscious injured human girl. Not that it was her fault, but…man, he was getting stir crazy. He had to get some air.

For the first time since she arrived, G stepped out of his lab and just stood by the door, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. He had been hesitant to smoke around the human, not for fear of it hurting her, but more so he was sure her condition wouldn’t get worse. He knew humans were pretty sensitive when they were hurt and healing, so he wanted to be careful. While he stood there, enjoying his smoke break, he let his mind wander.

This human girl was a complete mystery. He’d gotten a better look at her once he’d gotten her settled and cleaned up – she was quite the attractive little thing, he’d give her that. But besides that, he had a number of unanswered questions about her that kept chasing each other around his skull. Who was she? Did she know Frisk, by any chance? Did she know what had happened to Frisk? Where did she come from? Did she realize she was in a dimension parallel her own? What had that been that had thrown her into his world? There were so many questions running through his head, he sometimes couldn’t help but ask her when he was taking care of her. Not that he expected and answer. But it was nice to have someone to talk to that wasn’t a computer. And sometimes, he did just that – talk to her, go over his notes aloud with her, ask her questions, then joke about her not being able to actually answer him…he wondered if she actually heard him. If she did, what would she say when she woke up? Assuming she wasn’t in some sort of coma from the head injury. He really hoped she wasn’t. That would make all of this suck that much more.

In the silence all around him, he thought for just a moment, he heard a whimper coming from the lab. It wasn’t loud, which was why he questioned if he actually heard it in the first place, but he decided to check it out just in case. He’d finished his cigarette anyway, so it was time to head back into the lab. What he saw when he got down there had him frozen on the stairs, staring.

\-----------------------------------------------------

June woke up slowly, groaning softly. She was groggy and disoriented, and when she tried to move, all she felt were spasms of pain. And fuck did they hurt. She would gasp and hiss as she tried to move, the pain waking her much more quickly. She shut off every other thought trying to crowd her hazy mind and focused on her battered body. First, assess the damage.

Despite the pain she was in, June felt that her injuries were mostly healed. Broken right leg and left arm, cracked and bruised ribs on her left side, and some head injury that was fogging up her brain something fierce. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to lay still. Now that step one was out of the way…step two. Gather strength and prepare.

Not being able to get up was going to be a challenge for this step, but she could improvise. Using her good arm, she wiggled out of her half-jacket and managed to wad it up some before stuffing it in her mouth. Then she settled herself back down again, gripping the edge of the metal table she was laying on and normalizing her breathing. Meditation proved invaluable for this part of her process. Now she was ready. Third: heal.

It was excruciating as always. She almost screamed right off the bat as her back arched off the table in pain. She hated broken bones. Out of all injuries she got, they were the worst, if only because if the healed improperly, they would automatically re-break and re-heal, over and over until it was right. The snapping and cracking of the bones setting, healing, breaking, and resetting filled the room, and where she normally felt all her injuries as they healed, the pain from her arm and leg overpowered everything else. Being mostly healed, there wasn’t much left for her to do, but it was still awful. By the time the pain finally eased, signaling the end of her healing, her knuckles were white from how hard she gripped the edge of the table, and she couldn’t help the noisy whimper of relief that escaped her as she pulled the half-jacket out of her mouth and caught her breath.

After a few seconds of just laying there recovering from the healing, June sat up and gingerly began testing her previously injured parts. She stretched her ribs every which way first, looking for any more pain. When she found none, she moved her arm around, punching the air and flexing it, doing the same. A slight ache when she twisted it behind her, but that would fade. Then her leg, which she swung over the edge of the table. Roll the ankle first, test its mobility. Then the knee. Slowly and carefully stand, to check it would hold her weight. Take a few steps, walk around. Stomp a couple times, jump a couple times. Kick the air a few times, test flexibility and speed. No room to test running, but that could wait. If she could walk, that was enough for now. Besides a slight ache from the kicks (she would have to watch her force if she got in a fight and kicked with her right leg), it was fine. She smiled a little and hummed in satisfaction to herself.

The hum turned into one of confusion when she went to run her fingers through her hair and found the bandage over part of her forehead and temple. Right, the head injury. She quickly peeled off the bandage and tossed it onto the table, her thin fingers probing the spot underneath. If the raised skin was any indicator, she had a new scar for her efforts.

“Great,” she muttered to herself, dropping her hand with a sigh. Oh well. Could be worse. At least she was alive. Her brow furrowed in confusion again as she finally took a good look at her surroundings and her mind began to process at its normal speed.

How had she survived that fall, anyway? Given she had been outside when Error had thrown her into the universe (the tree was kind of a giveaway), someone must have found her and brought her here. Wherever here was. They must have been the ones taking care of her and healing her wounds while she rested. Who was it? And why did this place look so familiar? June walked around as she thought, examining different items around the room. Then her dark eyes found a familiar shape, covered by a familiar tarp. Her mind flashed to the last time she’d seen that tarp – was she where she thought she was? It had been much darker in the room then, but she was sure it was the same tarp the May had pointed to when they were in the Sans and Papyrus’ basement. Which meant the shape under it…

She stepped closer, curious as to whether or not she was right. All it would take was pulling the tarp off to find out. Still, she felt anticipation crawling up her spine, and the feeling she was being watched. She glanced around, making sure she was indeed alone before returning her attention to the thing before her. Well, only one way to find out if she was right. She steeled her nerves and grabbed the tarp, pulling it off in one deft motion. As it fluttered to the ground, she gasped softly. The world viewing machine stood before her, just as she remembered it from the basement before. She quickly searched the machine, and – lo and behold, there was the familiar plate with Gaster’s initials attached.

“W. D. Gaster…” she read off the plate, running her fingers over it. It felt really nostalgic to look at it again, even though it had only been…what, two months? Maybe more, depending on how long they’d been in the Anti-Void. Which prompted her to remember –

May. Where was she? Was she okay? What had Error done with her? Where had he sent her? June doubted she was lucky enough to have ended up in the same universe as her sister, especially since Error had been so interested in splitting them up. No, he would have sent the sisters to different universes, of that, she was sure. So if May wasn’t here…could June use the machine to find her? Wait, why bother? She could just call her from the watch, right?

June quickly stepped back from the machine, looking down at the small device on her wrist. Though a bit surprised it was still there and intact, she mentally thanked the universe for small miracles like that and set to putting in the controls to contact her sister. But when she got it working, all she got was a burst of static from the speaker.

“May?” she tried anyway, hoping the girl could hear her. “May! Ugh, shit, hang on…”

Realizing what she was doing wasn’t working, she quickly changed the input and tried to reach Science in the hopes it would stabilize the call enough for her to talk to her sister. But her screen flickered, the static sound faltering too.

“What? No, nonono! Agh, come on! Don’t do this to me, now!” she hissed under her breath, frantically messing with controls and pacing around. But after a few seconds of fiddling, the device just died, the screen going dark and the audio static cutting out.

“Aw, you’ve gotta be… _fuck._ Fuckin’ fuck me…” she sighed, dropping her wrist and rubbing her forehead in frustration. Well, that idea was shot to shit. She glanced over at the world-viewing machine, then sighed, stepping up to it again. But looking at the controls for it, she realized she didn’t remember what it was May had done to get it started and working.

“Okay, no sweat. If May can figure this thing out from just playing around with the controls in five minutes, so can I,” June reasoned with herself, slipping into her nervous habit of curling her hair behind her ear and muttering to herself. “Just gotta think like her. Uh…what about this thing would have caught her eye…?”

June proceeded to fumble about with the controls, occasionally looking over her shoulder when she thought she was being watched again. After a few minutes of getting absolutely nowhere, she sighed and leaned back, frustrated. Then there was that feeling again! At this point, she knew she wasn’t being paranoid anymore. Her initial anticipation had long since faded, and now she was just irritated. Finally, she turned around and gave the room a much more critical eye, slowly examining everything in sight from where she stood. When she still couldn’t find who was watching her (or, hell, she’d even settle for the glint of a camera lens at this point), she growled and strutted over to the table, flopping back down to sit on it.

“I know you’re in here somewhere. I’m in no mood to keep playing hide and seek, so just come out already.”

There was a pause, then the shuffling of feet. Then the spy came in to view, sheepishly stepping out from behind a broken machine by the stairs. June’s eyes widened as she looked at him.

The skeleton standing before her had the same holes in his hands and cracks on his skull as Gaster did, but he also had the same shape of skull as Sans, as well as the same lazy, aloof way of carrying himself. Oddly enough, he was shorter than Gaster, but also taller than Sans. Hell, he was actually shorter than Papyrus, when she thought about it. But the fact that he seemed to be a fusion of Gaster and Sans was throwing her. He even dressed like both skeletons, wearing a white turtleneck sweater under a black parka with a fur-lined hood. Both the shirt and jacket had their sleeves rolled up, and he had black jeans that rested low on his hip bones, work boots poking out of the bottoms of the jeans. Well, if nothing else, this guy had style, she found herself thinking as she stared at him. But who the hell was he? A version of Sans, or Gaster? Was he a skeleton she hadn’t yet met?

“Sans?” she finally whispered, blurting the name before she could think to stop herself. The look of surprise on his face had her sliding off the table and striding closer, still studying him. When she was close enough to touch him, she stepped a little closer, gently cupping his cheek and running her thumb along the crack under his left eye, for once not caring that her emotions were clear on her face.

“What the hell happened to you?” she murmured, her brow knitting in concern and confusion. Her actions seemed to startle the skeleton, giving her a strange look as he pushed her hand away from his face and stepped back.

“sorry, lady, but i have no idea who you are. i think you have me confused for someone else,” he said simply.

The surprise on her face turned to hurt and disappointment, but she covered it by turning away and flipping her hair, acting much more aloof than she felt.

“No, I don’t think I do,” she sighed, going back to the table and sitting down again. “But I shouldn’t be surprised you don’t know me. After all, none of you beforehand have. Why would this be any different?”

“excuse me?”

“Just answer me this, captain Casanova – are you a version of Sans or not?”

He hesitated, staring at her before shifting his stance a little, folding his arms across his chest.

“captain casanova? whatever. yes, i am a version of sans. how the hell you know that, though –”

“Oh, you swear? Good. Glad I don’t have to censor myself, then. Two universes in a row without swearing is weird.”

“wait, you know about the other universes?”

“Yep. That’s how I know about the whole alternate version of so-and-so thing. So…what version are you, exactly? What is this place?”

“hold up. how do you know about the other universes? how did you know about the machine?”

“Hang on,” June snorted in amusement. “We’re never gonna get anywhere just asking each other questions without getting any answers. Tell you what – answer one of mine, I’ll answer one of yours. We take turns. Sound fair?”

The lanky skeleton studied her for a second, then came and sat on the opposite end of the table.

“deal. you first.”

“Alright. So where am I? Universe too.”

“heh. cheating for more information. clever.”

“Not cheating. Just making sure I don’t have to ask the same question multiple times to get the answer I’m looking for.”

“fair enough. alright, i’ll bite. the others call this universe echo. it’s my home universe. and you’re in my basement-slash-lab.”

“Huh. Why Echo?”

“uh-uh. my turn. you have an unfair advantage, since you already technically know who i am. what’s your name?”

June pouted, but answered, “Juniper. Juniper Skies. I go by June. Now, my question?”

“hmph. bit impatient, aren’t ya? don’t answer that one, not a question i want the answer to. they call it echo because of all the echo flowers everywhere.”

June snorted at the impatient comment, then smirked when he called her out on counting it. He could already tell she’d have done it, too. She wasn’t sure whether to think of that as a good thing or not.

“know anyone named frisk?”

She thought about it a minute, searching her brain for the name. Finally, she shook her head.

“Nope. Neat name, though. Bit unusual. Kinda like it. Friend of yours?”

“something like that. maybe you’ve seen her, though…little shorter than you, brown hair? shackles around her wrists?”

“Think I’d remember someone by that description. Sorry, bud. Maybe you can help me find someone I’m looking for. Kid’s younger than me, about half my height, same black hair and pale skin. Freckles on her cheeks and nose. Ice blue eyes. Seen her?”

“can’t say i have. sorry. who’s she to you?”

“My sister,” June sighed, not bothering to hide her disappointment this time. “She’s only like twelve, and we got separated recently. She a tough kid, but…I’m her big sister. It’s my job to worry, ya know?”

This universe’s Sans nodded in understanding. It was an older sibling thing.

“Alright, guess that makes it my turn. What’s up with the Echo Flowers?”

“honestly? no fucking idea. been trying to figure it out myself for a while now. no dice. all i know is that they grow fucking everywhere lately. not just waterfall.”

“Huh. That’s fucking weird.”

“tell me about it. my turn. how do know about the universes and shit?”

June snorted, then gave him a look./p>

“That one’s got one hell of an answer. Sure you want me to answer that one right now?”

“i’ve only got two words for you: try me.”

“Alright. Settle in, then. Story time.”

June then went on to give an abbreviated version of what had happened to the Skies sisters from May being curious about the basement on, skipping over some details that either didn’t present themselves in the shortened version of the tale, just weren’t important, or she really didn’t want to talk about, like most of the events in the universe with the Gaster that had experimented on the girls. When she finished, she looked over at the skeleton next to her, gauging his reaction. He was just staring at her.

“okay, i have a few things to say about that,” he finally commented when their eyes met. She grinned and chuckled, though it was a bit of a dry laugh.

“I bet you do,” she answered, leaning back on her hands and waiting.

“first, that answers several questions i had, so…it’s a good thing you answered that one.”

June snorted here. She was expecting something like that. She’d asked him to hold all comments and questions until the end, and there had been a few times he clearly had to hold his tongue from interrupting her with questions.

“second, that did raise a few more questions, so i’ll be voicing those in a minute.”

She nodded, again expecting that to happen.

“third, i’ll give you a bit of free information in return for your, uh…story time. the others call me a bunch of things, but i ask you to call me g. the two universes you didn’t know the names for? the one with the gaster you were talking about, that one is universally called handplates. and the one with the kids is generally called little.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks. That’s actually really helpful, and answers a couple of my questions. But I’ve got a new one for you. Since you’re one of the aware universes, how is it you didn’t know any of this already? I though Outer sent out a message about me and my sister.”

“oh, uh…well, he did…i just kind of…ignored it.”

“Oh,” June snorted, not actually all that surprised. At least G had the good grace to look sheepish as he said it.

“anyway, since it’s my turn, one of my questions from all that. how the hell did you survive a direct hit from a gaster blaster?”

“That? Well, like I said, Fell didn’t hit my Soul, and I think that had something to do with it. Like, when I said I took the entirety of the blow, I meant that I was literally curled up in a ball around my sister, protecting her from getting hit, and when the blaster fired, it hit me in the back. Like I said, fuckin’ sucked.”

“you still shouldn’t have…” G replied, glancing down from her face for a second. It took June a second to realize he was probably looking at her Soul, not her boobs. She rolled her eyes and sighed, bringing his attention back to her face when she spoke.

“Either you’re staring at my Soul, or my boobs. Hard to tell which. If it’s my boobs, my face is a little higher, bud,” she snickered, watching his face turn gold in what she guessed what his version of a blush. “If it’s my Soul, like I think it is, you can just ask me my Stats. I’m guessing that’s what you wanted to know about?”

“uh, y-yeah. just wanted to check your stats.”

She snorted, still amused by his flustered embarrassment, before answering, “Well, the one you’re looking for is my HP. It’s two thousand.”

That dropped the blush in a hurry, his expression morphing to surprise.

“how the –”

“Ah ah ah! My turn,” she teased, smirking at his frustration. “And I want you to tell me…why G? I mean, if you’re a version of Sans…”

“ah, that. well, i’m kind of…fused with gaster. or at least, a part of him. g is easier than gaster-sans or g-sans. or whatever else the others have come up with. and it sure beats being nicknamed after my universe, like fell or outer or science.”

“Hmph. Guess that makes sense. A little like it being easier for people to just call me June instead of Juniper. It’s not that it’s that big a deal. I just hate my name. Too…frilly and flowery for me. Blech. Besides, calling you Echo wouldn’t make much sense.”

G nodded, glad she understood. While much of her still remained a mystery, she was remarkably chill, and he could appreciate that.

“now, back to my question. how the hell is your HP that high? and what are your other stats? are they all that high?”

“If I answer all three right now, you have to answer three for me,” she smirked. He frowned, but nodded. It was fair.

“Alright then, let’s see. Ah, I guess all my Stats are that high? I mean, they’re all pretty high for their categories. AT of one hundred, DF of fifty. Oh, did you want LV and EXP, too? Uh, EXP zero…LV two,” she sighed, knowing that would likely be his next question. She bowled on anyway, still having one more question to answer. “Anyway, as for why my Stats are so high, we think it might have something to do with me being a mage? We’re not totally sure.”

June tried not to wince as he recoiled away from her, deliberately not looking at him. It took him a second to recover and stop staring at her himself.

“it’s your turn,” he finally said, to which she looked over at him in surprise. She had fully expected him to forget the rules they’d established and fire away at every question he had – and she would have let him, because she understood the reaction. Hell, in his shoes, she probably would have done just that. But he was restraining himself. Why?

“Okay,” she said slowly, wondering what was going on. “Well, first thing that comes to mind: why are you being so calm about this? Most monsters flip out when I mention the word mage. Or when they notice my LV.”

“i’m calm because i saw your face. you’re used to the kind of reaction i had. being treated with fear and hate. and that’s not right, no matter who or what you are. so think of it less as me being calm and more of what it actually is: keeping myself in check. you still have two more questions.”

June blinked in surprise. He was only trying to be fair with her? Well, that was new. And very gentlemanly. She suddenly felt bad for the casanova comment earlier and looked away, rubbing her arm self-consciously.

“O-okay. Thanks. Um…look, I know you want to ask, so go ahead. Forget the rules or what we agreed on, because any other questions I have are completely off this topic, and I know I’m gonna dread waiting for you to ask. So let’s skip to the part where we just get it over with and you ask what you wanna know.”

G hesitated, then turned to her, looking her dead in the face.

“then i want you to look at me when you answer these. i wanna know for a fact you’re telling the truth.”

June nodded, understanding the concern. She would do the same thing. She sighed, squirmed around until she was completely facing him and looked him square in the eye, keeping her expression calm and neutral.

“Fire away, hot shot.”

“first of all, why didn’t you mention you were a mage sooner?”

“Because it didn’t come up. And!” she added, throwing her hands up in surrender at the irritated look on his face. “And because I didn’t know until…what did you call it, Handplates? That universe? I mean, I knew I had powers since I was a kid, but I never connected it to magic or being a mage in any way until then.”

“how? how do you not know you’re a mage?”

“Easy,” she snorted darkly, almost looking away. “You grow up in a world where monsters and mages and magic don’t exist. Or, at least, no one believes they do.”

“what?” G asked, looking taken aback.

“Yeah. Up on the surface, everyone believes you guys are fairytales. Something made up to scare kids into behaving. Or programmed into video games as the bad guys to be beaten or defeated or killed. Because humanity has gotten to a point that it doesn’t know any better. No one even knows you guys are down here anymore.”

G went silent for a beat, seeming to process the information. Then he blinked, focusing back in on her.

“and you? what do you think about all this?”

“Truth? At first, I wasn’t sure. I thought I might’ve been going crazy. Or maybe I was having some sort of fever dream or something. But the longer I’m down here in the thick of it, the more I experience…the more I realize, you can’t make this shit up. Sometimes fact is crazier than fiction. And my life…” She gave a short, humorless laugh, running a hand through her hair. “My life is either the biggest acid trip anyone has ever had, or it’s all very extremely terrifyingly real, and I have one hell of an ability to cope with crazy impossible things.

“As for monster-kind…I think you guys deserve your freedom. As shitty and awful and cruel as humanity can be, and part of me wishes you wouldn’t have to deal with that, monsters deserve to be free, just like everyone else. I’ve meet a lot of you guys in my time down here. And at first, I was pretty freaked out. But the more I got to know you guys, the more I realized you’re just like everyone else. You have your ups and downs. You have your dreams and ambitions. Your fears and flaws. You have families and friends and customs and traditions and so many things all your own that humanity either doesn’t have, or only has something that doesn’t come close. And I’m honestly fascinated by it all. And even more…it seems like you guys…you’re all so friendly and open, and even though me and my sister are both humans and mages – two things monsters have every right to hate – you don’t shun us or judge us. You act surprised, then give us the chance to prove ourselves to you. That we’re not like the humans or mages that trapped you down here in the first place. And you guys end up being friends with us, and genuinely caring about us, and…and making us feel like we’re a part of some great big extended family that neither of us have ever had before. It’s…in a way, it’s terrifying. But it’s not something I think I’d ever trade for anything in the world. And any of the friends – no, the family – I’ve made since coming down here…I would protect them as if they were my own sister. And maybe that doesn’t mean much to you, but to me…well, that’s me saying I’d lay down my life for them, if I had to.”

June finally paused, running out of things to say. G just stared at her, right in the eyes the whole time she spoke, seeming to search for something. She couldn’t tell if he found it or not in her eyes, but she blinked and had to laugh at herself.

“Wow, sorry. I’m not normally the preachy, speech-giving type. Honestly don’t know what came over me. Heh. Anyway, I’m sure you had other questions?”

G blinked in surprise himself, now, and he nodded.

“yeah. what kind of mage are you?”

June’s face went blank and she looked at him in confusion.

“Like, what kind of magic do I use? Uh, I use two kinds.”

“what do you mean by that? all the research i’ve done says mages only control one type of magic.”

“I mean exactly what I said. I have two kinds of magic. And I guess that makes me a different kind of mage than the ones you’ve studied,” she shrugged.

“well, what kinds of magic do you use? you didn’t answer that the first time.”

“Well, you interrupted me. I use orange and blue magic. They correspond with the colors of my Soul.”

“what? colors? as in plural? but that’s –”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Spare me the ‘it’s not possible to have two Soul colors’ speech. Been there, done that. Been that way since I got down here in the first place. Probably long before that, actually. Just didn’t know until I came to the Underground.”

“how?”

“Fuck if I know. May’s is like that, too. Just in different colors than mine.”

“huh. then you’re probably right. you both being mages and having two Soul colors isn’t a coincidence.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Never mind,” she added when he looked at her in confusion.

“so you said your magic corresponds to your Soul colors. orange and blue, right? does that mean your Soul is both orange and blue?”

“Yep. Interesting fact, though – the colors don’t blend. They’ll swirl around like they’re trying to mix, but they can’t. It’s like watching oil and water. May’s does the same thing, but in green and purple. Kinda hypnotic if you watch it long enough, actually. Very cool.”

“huh. i’ll take your word on that one. next question. why is your LV two when your EXP is zero?”

June hesitated, actually looking away this time. She was waiting for this one. Didn’t make it any less unpleasant to answer, though.

“I…there was an accident…” she sighed, gathering her thoughts. Then she straightened her spine and forced herself to look him in the face again as she spoke.

“Short version or long?”

G blinked. Another story time, it seemed.

“short.”

“Thank god. I wasn’t really feeling up to giving the long version anyway. Okay. So my dad was a drunk. And not just any drunk. The violent and abusive kind. Used me and Mom like punching bags for years. One day, he surprised us by coming home in the middle of the day in one of his drunken rages. And see, my mom and I had this system worked out where, when she spoke in this specific tone, I would go get my sister and hide her somewhere Dad wouldn’t find her and couldn’t hurt her. Except when she used that tone on this particular day, I was playing outside by myself, with May in her playpen inside with Mom. I had no time to reach her before Dad hit Mom so hard he knocked her to the ground. I freaked out and came running inside to protect her, but Dad caught me off guard and knocked me around before I could do anything. So Mom and I were both laying there on the ground, stunned from the beating, when May starts crying in her playpen. And Dad turns to her. And all I can see is the broken beer bottle in his hand as he walks over to her. I start panicking and try to reason with him, explaining that hurting May wouldn’t be the same as hurting me and Mom. That she was too little, and she couldn’t take it. But he wasn’t listening. And right when I was getting to my feet again, I saw him raise that beer bottle, and…something in me just snapped. I was scared and panicking and just so angry. I wanted him to stop. I wanted to protect my sister. And more than anything, I wanted him to feel the pain he’d caused us for so long. And in that moment, it was like time slowed down, and I summoned fire to my hands. I didn’t realize what I was doing at the time – all I knew was that I was angry, the angriest I’d ever been, and my hands were hot – and right before he could bring down that beer bottle on her, I took two steps forward. To this day, I have no idea what I would have done or what I was thinking, but those two steps were all I took before I tripped. I tripped, and I flailed my hands around to catch myself as I fell, and all of a sudden, I was on the ground, and the fire on my hands was gone. And there was screaming. But it wasn’t May. I looked up, and…my dad was on fire. It wasn’t until later that I realized I accidentally threw a fireball at him, but in the moment, all I could do was stare and watch him run around, bumping into things and setting shit on fire when he touched it, screaming his head off the whole time. I just watched and thought, did I do that? Is that because of me? And before long, the entire house was on fire, and I snapped out of whatever daze I’d been in, and I grabbed May and our mom and I ran out the door before we could get trapped in the house. By the time the fire was out, our house had burned to the ground, and my dad’s remains were found on the bed in my parents’ bedroom.”

G was silent as she told her story, looking more and more shocked by what he heard. Like the very idea of what she described was something he hadn’t realized could ever be possible. By the end, he looked like he was going to be sick.

“stars above…how-how old were you?”

“Eight. May was two.”

A hand went over his mouth, and he looked like he regretted ever asking. She couldn’t blame him. There was much of her life that was hard for others to swallow. June finally closed her eyes and looked away, giving him time to process that particular portion of her story. While perhaps not the shortest version she could have given him, it got all the necessary information across. Still, reliving any part of her early life was tough on her, and she was glad to have that out of the way. Hopefully he wouldn’t ask for more any time soon…

“and you’re sure that’s what raised your LV?”

“It’s the only thing I can think of. I’ve never…no one else has ever died because of me. Never once before that incident, and not any time in the ten years afterwards.”

G lapsed back into silence. June looked him over as he sat there, thinking. These brooding silences seemed to be a thing for him. Admittedly, she’d more than once been told she had a tendency to brood when she was thinking heavily, but not every time she was caught thinking did she appear brooding. She had to admit, though…on him, the brooding was kind of alluring. Then his head snapped up, and she fought down a blush at having been caught staring.

“wait. how old are you?”

June blinked in surprise, the urge to blush fading. Had he not noticed after all?

“Uh, eighteen. Why?”

“just…you said not in the ten years since your dad…and you said you were eight at the time, but i wasn’t sure if that meant…”

“Oh. Yeah, I’m eighteen. No worries, there. Your math is fine,” she smiled, relaxing. He smiled back, looking much more chill and relaxed now. Then something occurred to the teen and she frowned.

“Wait. I lied. On accident, though. I said no one else has died since because of me, but…I guess that’s wrong. Handplates? Did I not…?” June sighed, curling up on herself, refusing to meet his gaze now. “The Gaster from that universe…I know I mentioned that we fought. But he started to back down. And when he did, so did I, because I might have wanted to hurt him and teach him a lesson, but I didn’t want to kill the guy. I just wanted to smack some sense into him…”

“what happened?” G urged gently.

“He…we were fighting, and we started talking, and we both started to back off. Then he started backing up, and…well, we were on top of the Core the entire fight. So when he started backing up, I realized what he was going to do, and…I tried to stop him. Hell, he basically tortured not just me, but his Sans and Papyrus and my sister, too, and I still tried to save him. But…he fell into the Core anyway. This was after he told us my LV was two, but…I guess it could be three now. Haven’t really gotten the chance to Check since, so…” she trailed off with a weak shrug.

“no, it wouldn’t be. your LV would still be two,” G said firmly. She glanced up at him, the conviction in his eyes surprising her.

“How do you know for sure?”

“because of your intent at the moment of death. you might not have intended to kill your dad, but he died as a result of your intent to harm him. gaster died after your intent had changed. you said it yourself, you were trying to save him when he fell into the core. because your intent wasn’t to harm him anymore, your LV wouldn’t have raised just because he died after you fought him. trust me, i know shit like this. your LV will still be at two the next time you check it. i guarantee it.”

June blinked, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. His words carried some authority she didn’t understand, but she did feel better after he said that. She uncurled again, giving him a weak, but grateful smile. She then cleared her throat and tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

“So. Any other questions?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter Summary:** We open on a lone skeleton going over notes and smoking a cigarette, the thoughts going round and round in his skull only frustrating him. As he gets up to go out and get some fresh air, alarms go off, startling him. Turns out, the alarms were detecting Error's breach into the universe. Seconds later, the alarms go dead as Error flings what we (the audience and authors) know to be June through the hole and closing it behind her. Our bystander skeleton watches as she collides with her first obstacle, then bolts in an effort to try and help her. Following the sound of her screams, he races to the spot in time to watch her slam into the side of the building and drop limply into the snow below. He checks for signs of life and sees that she's still breathing, if severely injured. He rushes her back to his lab in the hopes of saving her after all.  
>  The new skeleton helping June keeps an eye on her for a while, but eventually, he does have to step out for a smoke break. When he does, June comes to, and winds up healing herself to get moving again. It doesn't take her long to realize she recognizes her surroundings, and finds the same world viewing machine she's seen in the other universes. Only then does she think of using the watch to communicate with May and see how she's doing. However, the watch is unresponsive, dying almost immediately. Without other options, June spends the next good chunk of time trying to figure out the controls to the world viewer, but is unable to do so. Frustrated and annoyed at the persistent feeling of being watched, she finally calls out to her observer that she knows they're watching. What she doesn't expect is the skeleton she sees.  
>  He has the cracks in his skull and the holes in his hands of a Gaster, but the skull shape and aloofness of a Sans. He's tall, but not taller than regular Gaster, and even dresses like both skeletons. June is nothing short of baffled, but is completely unsurprised to discover this skeleton monster has no idea who she is. Pretty quickly, the two set up a sort of Q &A back and forth so they can get information from one another without tripping over the other's unanswered questions. Through this, we learn June's landed in the universe called Echo, and the skeleton she now finds herself with is called G.  
>  Through the back and forth questioning, June also learns the names of the last two universes the girls visited. We (and G) learn the dark secret behind June's slightly elevated LV - she has indeed killed before. However, it was an accident.  
>  June's father was an abusive alcoholic, beating his wife and daughter often. About the time June's mother became pregnant with May, however, the girls' father tried to sober up. However, it didn't last. And by the time June was eight, the whole thing came to a head when he returned home in the middle of the day, drunk. After beating both June and her mother until they were stunned, neither female had the time to hide little May, just two, whom was now screaming and crying in her playpen. June was the first to recover, watching in horror as her father went to strike her baby sister.  
>  Reacting purely on instinct and intent, June drew upon her developing magic and summoned flames around her hands, not realizing what she was doing in her fit of rage. (She had been drawing on herself earlier, and had happened to have already drawn flames on herself.) When June went to act, however, she tripped, sending a fireball right at her father. He did not survive the resulting house fire, though June, May, and their mother did because of June's quick thinking to pull them from the blaze. This is the only instance of June taking a life, however accidental, and thus is the event that triggered her LV gain.  
>  Thinking on it, June thinks for a moment that Gaster's death back in Handplates could have raised her LV again, but G reassures her this is not the case. The intent behind the two was completely different. June had been wishing harm on her father at the time of her attack, and the death that occurred because of it. With Gaster, her intent was to save him, thus not changing her LV or EXP at all once he fell into the Core.  
>  The chapter ends with June offering to continue the back and forth questioning the two had going.
> 
> **Credit to the Creator:** The gem that is [Echotale](https://yoralim.tumblr.com/post/139237155747/echotale-timeline-post).


	34. Back Down the Rabbit Hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so before I let you guys get to the chapter - as of posting this one, BtM has 871 hits. **_And quite frankly, I'm shocked._** Excited as all heck, but shocked, nonetheless. I can't believe we've really come this far, and it makes me incredibly happy to see the progression as time has gone on. Every comment, every kudos, every hit, means _so much_ to me, and to Book_Warrior7, too. We both nearly screech in excitement every time the numbers change. And I want to personally thank all of you for being here and sticking with us and enjoying every minute of the crazy ride we've taken you guys on. And just think! There's still so much more to come! We haven't even touched Storyshift, UT!Mob (or whichever one that one actually is), Underswap, or Reapertale! And I can't wait to share the rest of May and June's adventure with all of you. So again, thank you for being here with us and sticking around. I can't wait to see what the future holds. Until then, on to the chapter! -S

May looked around her room, stunned and confused. She was…back in her bedroom on the surface? What happened? How had she gotten here? Had…had all of it just been a dream? No, it couldn’t be…

She realized there was a way to test if all of it had been a dream. Her magic. If she could still summon it, then all of it had been real. If not, well…

She quickly focused on her magic, channeling it until she could feel it ready to be released at her fingertips. She opened her eyes and grinned, not even needing to look down at her hands to see the glow of her magic lighting up her dim room. But it was very reassuring to see the trails of green and purple snaking through the air off her hands. She sighed and shook the magic away, her smile fading. So she hadn’t been dreaming. But then, why was she back in her bedroom on the surface? Wasn’t she supposed to be in the Underground? She knew there was something important she was supposed to be doing, and it had to do with another kid, and Sans…

She was drawn out of her thoughts by a gentle knock at the door just before it opened.

“May, honey? You up?”

May blinked in shock. This was an even bigger deal than just waking up in her bedroom.

“Mom?” she said, unable to hide the incredulous sound of her voice. As the mousy woman peeked in to the room, she gave her younger daughter a bemused smile.

“Yes, it’s me, sweetie. Why so surprised?”

“Uh, no reason. Just…weird dream. You weren’t there, so it surprised me,” she lied, looking away from her mother. For having perfected an ignorant act, she was a terrible liar. But after a moment’s hesitation, Jan bought it, nodding.

“Well, alright. I was just coming to check on you. I know you were pretty upset last night after the verdict came back. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Oh…yeah, I’m okay. Um, what’s for breakfast?”

Jan brightened, but it was clearly a controlled reaction.

“French toast. Your favorite!”

May forced a smile on her face, nodding.

“Okay. Be there in a minute.”

As Jan shut the door, May scowled. She may have had an overgrown sweet tooth, but French toast was not her favorite. But the more worrying thought was that her mother thought it was the day after the courts had ruled June unfit to have custody of her. It had been at least two months since they’d left their original universe, and even though they’d only been in the Underground for two days at most before the basement incident, those were still two days her mother should have accounted for. Well, two days, two months, and however long they were in the Anti-Void. Either way, it was a significant amount of time. What on earth was going on?

May took her time getting dressed, thinking hard and searching her brain for the parts of her memory that suddenly were missing. What was she supposed to be doing, again? She remembered talking with Gaster, and there had been something sad, but she could only remember snatches of it, like it was a dream. May huffed as she left her room, shutting the door harder than was strictly necessary. This caused Jan to jump and whirl around in surprise.

“May! Honey, be careful! What has gotten in to you today?”

“Sorry, Mom. I was just thinking about that dream. I’m just frustrated because I can’t remember it.” Well, it wasn’t a total lie. Jan gave her an exasperated look, then sighed and turned back to the stove.

“Well, I’m almost done with another batch of toast, so come on over and get some. There’s plenty here.”

May quietly came over and fetched her breakfast, taking it to the table, still lost in thought. When Jan finally sat down with her own breakfast, she couldn’t help but notice the odd way May was acting.

“Honey? Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been so quiet this morning…”

“What? Oh, yeah! I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“Oh. Well, alright. But you know you can talk to me, right?”

“Yeah. I know,” May replied, her words clipped. It was a lie. She knew she couldn’t talk to her mother. Her mother wasn’t to be trusted. And while it hurt to think that way, she knew it was the truth. Jan would never believe her if the little girl told her what was on her mind. Worse was knowing her own mother would think she was crazy if she mentioned magic or monsters or the dream-like memory she was so desperately scrambling for.

After a tense and quiet breakfast, Jan sighed and cleaned up, watching her younger daughter sit around, distant and quiet, thinking about something. If asked to do something, she would do it, but her mind was still elsewhere, her motions mechanical and slow. Then, midway through the day, there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it, honey,” Jan chirped, to which May hummed, still staring out the window.

May was barely listening to her mother. She was still trying to puzzle out the dream/memory and how it connected to what was happening around her. She knew she’d talked to Gaster. She knew he’d asked her for help, something important, something to do with Sans and the rest of the Underground, and a kid…the words Save, Load, and Reset floated through her mind from time to time, as if they were trying to be helpful in some way. But so far, all she knew was that she had to get back to the Underground. She had to find Sans. Why was a mystery, but she knew she had to. And from going to check earlier, she knew her bag was still packed to run away. She could just grab it and sneak out at any time…if only her mother would quit hovering long enough…

“May?” Jan asked, laying a hand on the girl’s shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts again. “This nice police officer would like to ask you a few questions, if that’s okay.”

May’s brow furrowed in confusion. Police? This hadn’t happened before. What did it mean? Did it have something to do with June? Suddenly, she had a gut feeling it very much had something to do with her sister.

“Why? Has something happened? Is it June?”

Jan hesitated, glancing at the officer then back down at her daughter.

“Yes,” she replied slowly. “It does have to do with June. Apparently, she’s…well, she’s gone.”

“Gone? Like disappeared gone, or…?”

“That’s what we’d like to ask you about, little lady,” the officer replied, moving around in front of May. “We’d like to ask if you know anything about it.”

“Why would I?” May answered, shaking her head. “I haven’t see her or talked to her all day.”

“What about after the trial yesterday? Or any time recently?”

“Well, yeah, I talked to her then. I was upset that the judge got it wrong. I thought it wasn’t fair. She convinced me to go home and not do something stupid.”

May couldn’t help it. She blurted the truth of the matter before she could even think about it. She thought the judge had gotten it wrong. Sure, June had issues, but that didn’t make her an unfit guardian. Everyone had issues, and really, June’s weren’t a threat to May’s health and well-being. They were only a threat to someone who didn’t know how to respond to them, like their mother. May knew how, and while someone else would argue she shouldn’t have had to learn how to behave in certain situations around her own sibling, she’d more often had change her behavior for her mother than her sister. But no one had listened. And June had lost the trial.

“And she didn’t say anything to you about leaving? Or plans to go anywhere? She didn’t say anything about running away?”

“The most she said was when I said it wasn’t fair that we weren’t gonna get to see each other anymore. She told me it wasn’t like we could run away together. I told her that yeah, it was. That we could do it…but she said no.”

Still not technically a lie. But she knew she shouldn’t admit that she’d eventually gotten her sister to agree to her idea of running away together. That would only land the older girl in more trouble than she was apparently already in. The police officer didn’t look convinced.

“I think you know more than you’re letting on. And it’s a federal crime to hide the truth from the police. Did you know that? Do you know what it means? I means you could go to jail for lying to me. Well, as young as you are, it’d be juvie, but that’s just as bad.”

“Juvie?”

“Yep. Jail for kids who do things so bad, they can’t be with regular people anymore. Lying to a police officer is one of those bad things. And you don’t want to go to juvie, do you? So then tell me the truth. Did your sister say anything to you about running away?”

“No. She told me she thought it was a bad idea and to drop it.”

“Did she say anything else?”

“No.”

“Now, why don’t I believe you?”

“I dunno. Because you want me to tell you something that’s not true? Because you want me to get her in trouble? ‘Cause I won’t do it. I’m not getting her in trouble for something she didn’t do.”

“That’s some pretty heavy accusations, young lady. Sure you don’t want to rethink what you just said? Tell me the truth and I’ll forget you said that.”

“No. I meant what I said. All anyone ever wants to do is get her in trouble and be mean to her because she’s different. ‘Cause she thinks different and acts different. And I’m not telling a lie so you can call it the truth and punish her for nothing! I won’t do it!”

“Mayflower, honey –”

“No! I won’t do it, and you can’t make me! You’re just as bad as everyone else, Mom! You might not have been the one to physically hurt her or harass her, and you might not have forced her to do anything against her will, but you also didn’t do anything to help her! You just sat back and let it happen! When she was being bullied and called names and picked on, you didn’t do anything about it. When she was kicked off her gymnastics team, you didn’t fight it, even though you knew the reason they gave us was crap. Any time she needed you, you were never there. That’s called _neglect,_ Mom. And after everything you’ve put her through, is it really such a stretch to believe that she’d put her foot down and say ‘enough is enough’? Maybe I don’t know where she is. Maybe I don’t know if she’s okay. Maybe I can’t tell you what you want to know – but I’m not just gonna make something up either! I’m not gonna lie for you. And I don’t want to answer any more questions. I’m done. I’m locking myself in my room, and I’m not coming out until all of you go away!”

“Mayflower Elizabeth Skies!”

“Leave me alone!” she shouted back, slamming her bedroom door shut behind her and locking the door. Thinking quickly, she also used her strength to heft up her dresser and move it against the door, effectively blocking it from outside entry. She then sat on her bed in a huff, glaring at her door. It wasn’t long before Jan came knocking at the door, begging for May to open it or let her in. May stayed silent within, fuming. By the time May finally heard her mother leave, the sun had changed positions enough for sunlight to be streaming in through her window, and she’d calmed down enough to at least move the dresser back from her door. But as she sat, sulking and thinking, watching the dust motes swirl about in the afternoon sun –

Dust. That one word, the thought of dust, was what triggered her memory. It all suddenly came flooding back, and she gasped when she remembered. Sans. The kid, dusting monsters. Saves, Loads, Resets. And she needed to set things right. May unlocked her door and threw it open, flying out to the living room and staring wide-eyed out the window, where she could make out the peak of Mt. Ebott poking up from behind the roofs of houses and buildings.

She had to get back to the mountain. Gaster was depending on her. Sans’ life – no, the lives of everyone in the Underground - were at stake. She didn’t have time to waste.

May blew by her concerned and confused mother, back to her room, and threw on the backpack she knew was packed with all her gear for running away. She would need it, that much she knew.

Then she raced back out to find her mother, still standing there with the police officer from earlier, both of them looking perplexed at the child’s sudden change in behavior. The small ravenette ran up and grabbed her mother’s hands, wild-eyed and determined. She knew that the next words out of her mouth would mean whether or not her plan would work…and she had one doozy of a web to spin for this one.

“I know where June is!”

Both Jan and the officer looked flabbergasted by the sudden revelation. The officer, recovering first, knelt to look the little girl in the face when he spoke.

“Where?”

May shook her head, letting go of her mother and gripping her backpack straps tight.

“You won’t be able to find her. She’s too smart. She planned for someone to find out we were gone, so she’d have precautions to keep us from being found. If she’s where I think she is, she’ll be waiting for me. I need to go with you, lure her out.”

“What? May, no! You’re not going! And what’s all this ‘we’ business?”

“What I wouldn’t tell you before. I was telling the truth when I said that after I suggested we run away, June said no. But what I didn’t tell you was that I managed to get her to change her mind and agree to it. We planned that we’d pack a bunch of stuff we’d need to camp out and survive on the run for a while, but we’d only grab our stuff and go if the verdict was in your favor. We were supposed to go last night, so she’s got a head start. But we agreed on a place to meet up after I could sneak out, and since I didn’t make it last night, she’ll be waiting there for me. But I have to go, because she sees someone coming that’s not me, she’ll bolt. And she won’t come back until whoever is sent leaves.”

“We can wait her out.”

“No, you can’t. Because she’ll just find a way to get a message to me saying the meeting place was compromised and set it up somewhere else. And she’d keep doing it until either she realizes someone is getting to the messages before I do, or I actually make it to the rendezvous. So the sooner you use me to lure her out, the better. She won’t suspect a thing.”

There was a moment’s hesitation where the cop looked like he might argue, but when it was clear that she was right, he looked at Jan guiltily. Jan instantly exploded.

“No!”

“Ma’am –”

“No, you cannot use my daughter as bait! I won’t allow it!”

“Ms. Skies, please.”

“No! It’s not happening. May, go unpack that bag this instant.”

There was a tense few seconds of the adults arguing and Jan continuing to tell May to go unpack the bag and go to her room, but May huffed, realizing this was a waste of time. She finally got her mother’s attention and leveled her most fierce and determined look.

“It’s the only way they’re gonna catch her.”

“But what if something happens to you? What if…”

“Think of it this way. This, me going with them, risking my getting hurt now…it’s the lesser of two evils, here. And this way, she can’t do anything they wouldn’t expect.”

The meaningful way she said it, Jan knew what May was getting at. June would never risk using her powers if it endangered her sister. Finally, May could see her mother crumbling, and when the woman sucked in a breath and held it, nodding, May knew she’d won.

“Alright. But please, _please,_ be careful. I know you trust her, honey, but…please just come back to me safe and sound.”

May nodded, though she knew that was never going to happen. Right now, if it got her back to the Underground faster, she’d agree to just about anything. She turned to the officer, fixing him with a similar look.

“We’ll have to work fast. I have to be convincing if you want to catch her, so I can’t like wear a wire or something. She’ll know. And it’ll have to look like I’m alone. She’s picked a place where she can spot anyone coming a mile away, so if someone’s following me, she’ll see them. And I wouldn’t try to use the terrain against her if I were you – ‘cause she’s waiting for me on Mt. Ebott, and nobody knows the side of that mountain better than the two of us. I know, I know, it’s like off limits or whatever. But we’d go exploring all the time and not get caught anyway. That’s how we know the perfect spot to meet.”

“So what do you suggest?” the officer asked, ushering the small girl into the passenger seat of his squad car as she finally finished talking. She shrugged.

“I dunno. Have a team like waiting a certain distance away where she can’t see them? Maybe in one of the caves. Yeah, the mountain has a bunch of caves all over the place. I’m not sure if they’re connected or not, but they make for good hiding spots. If they are connected, you can use them to sneak up behind her so she can’t get away. But either way, getting me out to Mt. Ebott is the most important part.”

The officer nodded in agreement. He seemed to be thinking about something, and rather than turning down the street she knew the precinct was on, he passed it and drove towards the mountain, like she hoped he would.

“Alright kid, I’m gonna level with you. Nabbing your sister? Big news. So here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna take you up to the base of the mountain before I call for backup. Then you’re gonna point out the best place for me to hide is so your sister doesn’t find me. Then you’re gonna draw her out, and I’ll catch her. Sound like a plan?”

“Sure thing,” May replied, keeping her face neutral. She really couldn’t believe this was working! And as long as he could get her past the fence around the base of the mountain, she could find her way to the entrance to the Underground, no problem. Sure, she was taking a big risk by setting all this up, but it was better than waiting until she could sneak off on her own to get to the mountain. Besides, her house was a ways from the base. Driving to the mountain would take less time than walking or riding her bike up there. And as for the police officer she was tricking into helping her…she had an idea of what to do about him.

When they finally arrived at the base, he glanced up through the windshield at the mountain, looking less sure of himself now. But when he turned to speak to May, he was shocked to see the car door standing open, and her already racing towards the fence line.

“Hey!” he shouted after her, getting out and racing around to try and catch her as she managed to scramble up the fence. He jumped to try and pull her down, but she was waiting for him, kicking him square in the chest when he jumped. She hit him so hard, she could swear she heard and felt something crack under her foot, but she didn’t have time to spare thinking about it. She quickly hopped the fence, looking back long enough to see him laying on the ground, stunned and in pain.

“Sorry!” she called behind her as she ran, starting the long trip up the mountain.

It wasn’t long before she lost sight of where she’d entered the forested side of the mountain, but by the time she had to stop and catch her breath, she looked down the side of the mountain and grinned. She had made it to the spot the girls had initially stopped for her to catch her breath. She had covered that distance by running and climbing in only an hour, when it had taken the girls much longer to make it that far by walking in the dark before. She turned and set off again, running in the direction she remembered from that first night months ago. To help herself remember, she would call out the obstacles in her path, imagining June doing the same.

When she found the entrance to the Underground again, it was purely by accident, just like before – she literally just stumbled across it, falling in before she knew it was happening. She landed in the bed of flowers again, just like before, only being dazed and bruised from the shockingly long fall. But she forced herself to get up, staggering clumsily to her feet and starting to move to the next chamber of the Ruins. Much to her surprise, Flowey wasn’t there this time. Really, she was okay with that, though. She didn’t have time to stop and talk to him this go around. So she quickly moved on, running from chamber to chamber, her worry increasing with every solved puzzle she passed. It wasn’t until she passed her first small pile of dust that she slowed down at all. She eventually slowed to a walk as she passed more and more piles of monster dust, the ache in her heart for all the fallen monsters growing with her worry.

Then she arrived at Toriel’s house in the Ruins. She hesitated, remembering her promise to the goat monster never to come back to the Ruins and winced as she stepped across the threshold.

“Sorry, Toriel. I hope you can forgive me for breaking my promise. But I didn’t have a choice this time.”

The little girl ducked through the hallway underneath the house as quickly as possible. When she got to the door, though…the pile of dust waiting for her made her freeze. The only one who would be down here…it had to be Toriel’s dust. May felt herself begin to cry, but scrubbed at her eyes, willing herself to stop. She would have time to mourn later.

“Sorry, Toriel,” she whispered as she made herself skirt past the dust. “I’ll find a way to bring you back. That’s a promise I intend to keep.”

May steeled herself as she stepped out of the Ruins and ran again, making herself not stop or slow down for all the dust she saw everywhere. Still, as she ran, thinking of all the monsters she’d made friends with, surrounded by their dust…she couldn’t help the tears that came this time, crying as she ran. She didn’t even slow down when she got to Snowdin. She knew there wouldn’t be anyone there. Instead, she kept running. She ran through Waterfall, Hotland, the Core, crying the whole time, not stopping or slowing once for any more dust, promising breathlessly as she ran to bring everyone back. That she would make this right.

Before she knew it, she was racing through New Home. She was almost to the palace and she still hadn’t seen either the human kid she was supposed to be looking for or Sans. So she pushed on, bursting into the palace to find…oddly enough, a locked gate blocking the path to the stairs. She remembered a little of the palace from the universe with everyone being kids, but could have sworn there wasn’t a gate there in that universe. Why would there be one here? And the note attached…it politely asked her to find the keys to the gate. Weird. But she shrugged and looked, finding them in the kitchen and a bedroom. She quickly opened the gate and moved down the stairs, hoping not to run into Asgore before finding Sans or the kid. Seeing the long hallway ahead of her, she made herself pick up the pace again, her lungs still burning and legs still aching from all the running she’d already done. She managed to get herself to the next chamber, however, before her legs finally gave out and she toppled to the floor, crying out in surprise as she fell.

She looked up from where she lay panting on the floor to see where she was. Golden light greeted her as her eyes moved around the hall, the color touching everything in the room and bathing it in warm, rich light. Still, she shivered as she caught her breath, feeling as if there was something in the room chilling her to below zero. Something was waiting for her in this room, she could feel it. And it was patiently waiting for her to get up and make her way down the hall towards it.

The very thought almost had her trying to crawl back to the hallway from before, but she knew she had to keep looking for Sans and the kid. If she didn’t…

May steeled herself and crawled over to a pillar, using it to pull herself up. She hadn’t realized how tired she was from the running – this was worse than her after two back-to-back dance recitals, for crying out loud – but she made herself get up. There was no time to sit around waiting to recover. She was trembling and shaky by the time she did it, but she was standing again, and that was something.

“Come on,” she urged herself as she stumbled away from the pillar she’d used to support herself. “One step at a time. Just to the end of the hall. You can do this.”

She swallowed her grimace at the soreness in her limbs and started walking. And, save a few stumbles and staggering missteps, she almost made it to the end of the hall without issue. She lowered her head for just a second when she stumbled again, then looked back up –

And almost fell backwards from how hard she jumped, gasping in surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! So, one last thing. As of posting this chapter, **_WE'VE HIT 50 KUDOS!!!_** This is a big milestone for us, and so to celebrate, Book_Warrior7 and I will be hosting a Q &A! But it won't be just us answering the questions you send in - June and May will also be joining the party! SO, if you'd like to participate in the Q&A (which will be posted in place of next week's chapter, assuming we get enough questions), go ahead and either leave your questions down in the comments or visit one of our Tumblrs and leave your queries there.  
> I know I personally am really excited about this milestone, and having shared so much with all of you already. And I can't wait to share even more with you guys as June and May's story continues. Let's celebrate the 50 kudos we have, and look forward to breaking 100 someday! Love you all, hope you enjoyed this one, and we'll see you next week for more. -S


	35. Wherein G Realizes June's Flirting Game Has No Chill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so normally I'd wait til the end notes to leave personal notes, but kinda hard to avoid it this time. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to hold off on the Q&A, since no one had any questions for us. However, I would personally still like to run the Q&A, so if you guys have questions, go ahead and send them in, and unless they need to be addressed immediately, I personally plan on saving them to write a Q&A later. Oh, and sorry for the late chapter, gang! My schedule on Fridays is pretty tight right now, so hopefully it won't happen again.  
> Now, with that said, the actual beginning notes stuff. Gaster speak does make an appearance this chapter, so it'll be in its usual ROT2 cipher, but the translations will be up here in the beginning notes this time. And with that, hope you guys enjoy this one, and see you next week for more! -S
> 
>  **Gaster translations:** "It means what it sounds like, dear. Your signals simply stopped. We no longer have any kind of reading on either of you. Your Stats, your vital signs, your current location – we’re completely in the dark, here."  
>  "So if you were actually only there for about a week, and the third week can be accounted for, then what were you doing before you went to the Anti-Void? And how did you get there when we still cannot access it ourselves?"  
> "I believe I have an idea as to what happened. The shockwave you experienced after breaking the barrier either damaged something internally, or the magical energy in the shockwave short circuited both your devices simultaneously. Simply put, the devices are currently either inoperable, or just shut off and out of power."  
> "Of course we will, dear. And we’ll tell her you’re looking for her."

“So let me get this straight. You’re both Gaster and Sans, but fused as one being. And that happened because something malfunctioned in the Core. And because of that malfunction and you being fused into one person, that somehow fucked with the universe, effectively erasing everyone in the Underground?”

“that more or less sums it up.”

“Wow. That’s…”

“tell me about it.”

G and June were still sitting on the table, having gone back to their improvised game of Twenty Questions, G having exhausted all the questions he could think of that had to do with her LV, her being a mage/her magic, or the events that had lead up to her arriving in his universe. As most of her questions pertained to him and his universe, he was more or less letting her have free reign with the questions, explaining what he could and admitting he didn’t know if he actually didn’t.

“Alright. I’ve got a new one for you.”

“shoot.”

“The world viewer over there. Ever actually use it?”

“sometimes. mostly to check in on the other universes. don’t do much actual talking to them. i mean, it’s gonna sound conceited to say it, but…while they’re mostly a bunch of good guys, there’s only so much of myself i can handle at one time.”

“Mm. You’re right. That did sound conceited.”

“oof. you wound me,” G grinned, putting a hand over his Soul and mocking being hurt. June’s playful smirk upgraded to an amused grin as she laughed lightly. But her smile diminished again as she got back on track.

“Anyway. It _is_ communication-enabled, though?”

“yeah. was that what you were trying to do with it before? trying to contact someone?”

“Yeah. My sister. But I’m not sure how to do that with the big machine, just the little watch do-dad I have. And as you saw from my fumbling around,” she added with a sigh, her smile disappearing completely, “I have no idea how to even turn the damn thing on, let alone figure out how to work the watch controls into it.”

“sounds like you might be better off calling up science first. if anyone would know what to do or how to work any of it, it’s him. and that, i can help you do.”

G swung his legs back over the edge of the table and hopped up, going over to the machine, June on his heels with an expression between worry, relief, and gratitude on her face.

“Would you? Dude, thanks. I swear, I’m not normally this helpless when it comes to stuff like this, but…”

“heh, no problem. i may lack an actual heart, but that doesn’t mean i’m heartless.”

“Ha, ha,” June replied sarcastically, a faint smile playing on her blood red lips. G just smirked back at her and stepped up to the controls, flicking it on and putting in the right series of button clicks and flipped switches to bring a brief burst of static to the screen.

Once the screen and noise cleared away, they saw the Lab in a surprising state of disarray, and the edge of a lab coat peeking in on one corner of the frame. G sighed and June shook her head good-naturedly beside him. The lanky skeleton gave it a second before sighing again and clearing his throat noisily for attention. This startled the poor skeleton on the other side – Science Sans, as it turned out – but once they had his attention, he stared at the screen for a second, the lights of his eyes fixed on G.

“h-hello?”

“hey. name’s g, and i’ve got somebody here who wants to talk to you.”

June leaned a little closer to G, not sure if she could be seen or not, and waved at the shorter skeleton. His eye-lights snapped to her at the motion, then dilated significantly.

“oh my stars, june! you’re – oh thank the stars above you’re alright! gaster! i have eyes on one of the girls!” he shouted over his shoulder, then turned back to the screen. “oh, you have no idea how good it is to see you. when we lost your signals, we started panicking. well, i started panicking, but gaster was worried, too. i mean, this coming not long after we told you that as long as you have the devices on, we would know if you were alright? and then the signal just vanishes? and we’ve been trying to find you for weeks, but –”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Sci. Hold up for two seconds. You’re gonna have a panic attack if you keep that up. I’m right here, man. And I’m…a little worse for wear, but still functioning. So cool your jets, alright? I’m right here. Just take a breath.”

Science did just that, sucking in a deep breath and holding it just as Gaster appeared on the screen, laying a hand on Science’s shoulder. The smaller skeleton looked up at Gaster and released the breath, nodding.

“right. you’re right. sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, Sci. Just remember to take a breath every now and again. Now, let’s try again, a little more slowly. You said our signals disappeared? May’s too? What does that mean?”

"Kv ogcpu yjcv kv uqwpfu nkmg, fgct. Aqwt ukipcnu ukorna uvqrrgf. Yg pq nqpigt jcxg cpa mkpf qh tgcfkpi qp gkvjgt qh aqw. Aqwt Uvcvu, aqwt xkvcn ukipu, aqwt ewttgpv nqecvkqp – yg'tg eqorngvgna kp vjg fctm, jgtg."

June blinked, blank-faced, before holding up her wrist, her expression morphing to annoyance.

“Well, shit. This thing must be really fucked up if I can’t understand Gaster anymore. That’s fucking annoying.”

“you still have your device?”

“Yeah, haven’t taken it off. And it’s a pretty safe bet that May hasn’t either. We’ve gotten so used to having them on all the time now, we tend to forget about them entirely. Odds are, she’s forgotten she even has it on and is still wearing it.”

“if that’s the case, then something is definitely wrong with them for neither of them to be sending in a signal. we lost you both just over three weeks ago. what were you doing in that time?”

“Wandering around in a pocket dimension section of the Anti-Void, maybe? I’m still not totally sure where the hell we were, but you need to know. That place Error keeps going back to when we can’t find him? That’s where we were. Apparently, it’s his own personal section of the Anti-Void, and he described it as some sort of pocket dimension within the Anti-Void. Apparently, the section of it we first found Ink in was another pocket dimension within the same space, but totally unrelated to Error’s corner. It’s…kind of confusing as hell, but there ya go. Wait,” June frowned, turning to G in confusion. “Didn’t you say I was out for like a week while you tended to my injuries?”

“yeah, so that accounts for a third of the time you were missing. what’s the problem?”

“wait, what? you were hurt? what happened? are you alright? i mean, you said you were alright, but you’re the type to say you’re fine, even if you’re not, and –”

“Science. You’re doing it again. Breathe, buddy. I’m alright. Seriously. A little sore maybe, and I’ve got a new scar, but I’m alright. Just a bit of a rough landing, that’s all. Nothing I haven’t been through before. Breathe.”

Science took deep breaths while she spoke, her voice calm and soothing. He nodded when he was okay again, looking a bit sheepish. Checking he was going to be alright, she then turned her attention back to G.

“It might account for a third of the time we’ve been missing for everyone else, but May and I were only in the Anti-Void for about a week. We cut it close with our supplies of food and water, but with some careful rationing, we could have lasted much longer without completely running out. I mean, how can we be missing for more time than has actually passed?”

“time in the anti-void must flow differently than in the other universes,” G reasoned, crossing his arms in thought. “i mean, you said you were in little for, what, three weeks? and that was after seeing error on only the first and last days you were there. it’s a safe bet that the anti-void is one of the rare places where time doesn’t actually have meaning, so it plays by a different set of rules. a week there could easily turn into two or three out here, where time flows normally. relatively speaking.”

“Huh. I guess that would make sense. Never would have thought about that, though. Actually, that makes a lot of sense. In the Anti-Void, it’s just pure whiteness all around. Empty space, basically. May and I had no way of telling the passage of time there, so we started measuring by our sleep cycles. Hers more than mine, honestly – after all, she’s still a kid with relatively normal sleep cycles.”

G nodded, Science and Gaster listening intently on their side of the screen.

"Uq kh aqw ygtg cevwcnna qpna vjgtg hqt cdqwv c yggm, cpf vjg vjktf yggm ecp dg ceeqwpvgf hqt, vjgp yjcv ygtg aqw fqkpi dghqtg aqw ygpv vq vjg Cpvk-Xqkf? Cpf jqy fkf aqw igv vjgtg yjgp yg uvknn ecppqv ceeguu kv qwtugnxgu?"

June blinked and sighed.

“I’m gonna need a translation, here. Both for what he just said and what he said earlier that we ended up totally ignoring.”

Science quickly translated, having Gaster repeat what he’d said before about their lost signals. June frowned and crossed her arms across her chest.

“Well, that bit about the signals sucks ass. Means you can’t tell me what’s going on with May, either. And here I was hoping for a bit of help on that end. I can’t get her over the watches, and you’re not getting a reading…” she sighed, running a hand through her hair in worried frustration.

“Anyway, I can have a big sister freak-out later. Back to the other point. Before we ended up in the Anti-Void, we were trying to break the barrier in the Little universe. Uh, two-oh-four,” she added with a wince at their confused expressions. “The one with all the kids.”

Science and Gaster both gave her wide-eyed looks, like a pair of kids at Christmas.

“and did you? break the barrier there, i mean.”

“I think so. It happened pretty fast, and most of it is kind of a blur. I mostly remember this sound like thunder, then this blinding light, and something hitting us. Some kind if shockwave, maybe? I couldn’t really say. But it was powerful. Enough to knock us both out on contact. Next thing we know, we’re waking up in the Anti-Void, I’m not a six-year-old anymore, and out watches don’t work.”

Now the two skeletons really looked like kids at Christmas, absolutely ecstatic that the girls had somehow managed the impossible and broken the barrier. When pressed for details, June admitted she hadn’t had much of a hand in the later stages of it, but remembered that what did it was a combination of the wishes, hopes, and dreams of everyone in the Underground; the girls’ own magic being poured directly into the barrier; and something to do with the six previously collected human Souls. The Souls themselves she knew the least about, but her answer seemed to be enough to have the two scientific monsters almost in a tizzy. It took a minute to reign their attention back in.

“what did you mean your…things wouldn’t work?” G asked, gesturing to her wrist.

“Well, when we tried to use them to call anyone, we got nothing but static. Tried you guys first, then Outer – uh, seven, I think? The outer space universe – and then a pair of random numbers we dialed up just to test. We got jack back from anyone. Then I’m guessing you saw my attempts to reach out to anyone with it a bit ago. Damn thing just died or something.”

“hmm…how strange.”

"K dgnkgxg K jcxg cp kfgc cu vq yjcv jcrrgpgf. Vjg ujqemycxg aqw gzrgtkgpegf chvgt dtgcmkpi vjg dcttkgt gkvjgt fcocigf uqogvjkpi kpvgtpcnna, qt vjg ocikecn gpgtia kp vjg ujqemycxg ujqtv ektewkvgf dqvj aqwt fgxkegu ukownvcpgqwuna. Ukorna rwv, vjg fgxkegu ctg ewttgpvna gkvjgt kpqrgtcdng, qt lwuv ujwv qhh cpf qwv qh rqygt."

June waited for the translation before she let herself react, her face scrunching up in a scowl.

“Well that’s just fucking great. How can we tell if it’s one way or the other? I mean, I’m guessing it’s not as easy as I take the damn thing off and we open it up to check for damage.”

“afraid not. sorry.”

“Fabulous,” June muttered under her breath before Science continued.

“the only way to tell for sure if it’s just a power problem and not internal damage to the system is to try and power it up again. surprisingly enough, it takes a lot of power to start them up, so unless you’ve got a working scale model of the core in that lab somewhere, you’re gonna have to go to the real thing to get the device turned back on. and i gotta say, either way it ends up being…that must have been a hell of a lot of power to knock out both of you.”

“Yeah? ‘Cause it sure felt like a hell of a lot of _something_ when it hit me in the fuckin’ face.”

“wait, hang on. before you guys get off on another tangent: are you sure we have to get to the core to power this thing back up? there’s not another way?”

June glanced over at G, wondering what the problem was. Obviously, something to do with the Core, if his words and expression were any kind of clue, but what about it?

“unfortunately. the only reason we were able to power them in our lab was because we _do_ have a working scale model. and then, it took them almost forty-eight hours to be fully charged off the scale model. the actual core would have them up and running again in a matter of minutes, max. and nothing else is powerful enough to produce a sufficient charge of both electrical and magic energy.”

“well, shit,” G muttered, rubbing the back of his skull. It wasn’t until just then, though, that he noticed June looking at him, an eyebrow arched in a silent question. He shook his head slightly, then glanced towards the monitor. When he looked back at her, he could see her mentally translating the signals, and when understanding crossed her face, she nodded.

“and here i thought the silent conversation bit was just a human thing…” Science spoke up, looking rather confused. Both June and G turned back to the screen, a little sheepishly.

“Yeah, no. It’s more of a thing when two people happen to be thinking along the same lines. Me and May do it all the time because we’re close enough that we’re almost always on the same wavelength. But, uh, speaking of, if you hear from her, please call right away. I mean, I probably won’t answer, if this thing is still out of commission then, but still. I’d like to know if she’s okay.”

“wait. she’s not there with you? i thought you guys were inseparable.”

“So did Error,” June replied darkly, causing both skeleton monsters to look alarmed. “He split us up. Sent us to different universes. I have no idea where she is, or if she’s even alive. And if my arrival was an indication…please, guys. If she calls, you’ll tell me?”

They both nodded, worried themselves now.

"Qh eqwtug yg yknn, fgct. Cpf yg'nn vgnn jgt aqw'tg nqqmkpi hqt jgt."

While not totally reassured by the promise, June at least looked less tense when she sighed, her expression worried and haggard.

“Thanks. That means a lot, guys. I owe you…more than I already do, I mean,” she added with a weak smirk. They smiled in reply, and G put a hand on her shoulder in support. She flashed him a grateful little smile as well, tucking some hair behind her ear out of habit.

“Welp, time to get going. We’ve got work to do. I’ll try to keep in touch.”

The scientific skeletons nodded and waved goodbye to her before G shut down the communication, turning to her again.

“that went about as well as i was expecting.”

June gave a short dry laugh, a smile ghosting across her lips before her expression faded back to something more neutral.

“actually, you handled science really well. how’d you know how to calm him down so easily?”

She hesitated, curling her hair behind her ear again and folding one arm across her middle before answering, “I, uh…I get like that sometimes. Not outright panic attacks, but I’ve been known to get myself so worked up that it’s something close. Once you get into that mental rut, it’s hard to climb back out on your own. I’ve gotten significantly better about it, but Sci clearly has a way to go. Really, all I did was stop him from falling into the rut entirely. Pretty easy if you know the signs.”

June was a bit surprised that he didn’t react the way anyone else would have at news like that. Normally she would have gotten a look of pity and questions into her past as to why she would have anything close to panic attacks. But G just hummed and nodded, his face openly curious, but not judging. No pity, no questions. Just him turning away and changing the topic.

“so, what i didn’t want to say in front of them.”

“R-right. Something with the Core, right? So what’s the deal?”

“well, as part of the universal fuckery that happened because of this,” –here, he gestured vaguely to himself– “the core is no longer in one fixed location. it moves around, which means it’s gonna be a pain in the ass to get you there to fix your watch thing.”

“Seriously? But the Core is fucking huge! How does something that big just _move around?_ Like what, did it develop a mind of its own or some shit? The fuck?”

“been asking myself the same thing. your guess is as good as mine, at this point. though it’s pretty tempting to just say ‘magic’ and let it go.”

June snorted, another smile working its way onto her face as she opened up again and nudged his shoulder playfully.

“If I had any doubts you were a Sans before…”

G grinned and chuckled. Yeah, they all did that thing. Explaining things away by simply saying “magic” and wiggling their fingers. It was both annoying and amusing, and something June found oddly comforting that G, despite only being half Sans, still did.

“So do we have any way of tracking it?”

“nope. just gotta go looking for it. as i said, pain in the ass.”

“Except you don’t have one. You don’t get to complain.”

“maybe not, but you do. think of it as me prematurely stealing your complaints.”

The teen snorted again and laughed, and G’s grin stretched even wider.

“Who says I’d have any?” she finally retorted, sliding past him towards the door, scooping up her bag along the way. He shrugged, a motion she barely caught out of the corner of her eye.

“who says you wouldn’t? could be a long trip. lots of walking. not a lot to do.”

“I’m not afraid of a little walking. Or long trips. Hell, this whole fiasco has been one long trip, and look at me! As for not much to do…I can think of a few ways to keep myself entertained.”

G paused, his face lighting up gold for just long enough that she turned and saw it. She grinned, winking at him before climbing up the stairs out of sight. Even out of sight, though, her laughter filtered down to him again, making the blush worse. Yeah, she had said it with a suggestive tone on purpose. Not that she actually intended to do anything like that (unless he was game, because hey, she was willing to try just about anything once), but all the Sanses just made it so easy for her to mess with them like that! And she loved seeing them get all flustered. She counted it as a small victory, making someone with a reputation for being cool and unflappable blush and flounder about awkwardly like that. Besides, being a natural-born flirt…she just couldn’t help herself when the opportunity arose.

G finally caught up to her as she was looking about outside, just disappearing around the corner of the house. Out of curiosity, she went looking for the spot she’d first landed. Everything had been blurred in her vision, but she remembered the hits clearly enough: low stalactite, tree, building. And, when her eyes found some scattered pine needles by one of the buildings at the edge of town, she had one guess where she’d ended up.

“you took a hell of a beating on your way down,” G spoke up from behind her, causing her to jump. A hand instinctively flew over her heart, and she sighed when she calmed, shooting him a look.

“We’re surrounded by snow. How the hell did you do that?”

“magic.” Cue finger-waggle. She shook her head and looked back towards the damage she did as she fell.

“Hmph. Certainly felt like hell when I got ‘em, that’s for sure,” she murmured, finally answering his first statement. She then heard his boots crunching through the snow as he approached her, and she turned to give him a teasing look. “What, didn’t feel like giving me a heart attack this time?”

When he gave her a confused look, she shook her head and said, “Never mind.”

“what made you wanna come over here?”

“Morbid curiosity, I guess,” she shrugged. “Wanted to get a look at where I came down, see what kind of wreckage there was. Oh, whoa. Shit, I didn’t see that before.”

June grimaced as she shuffled closer to the building she slammed into, now noticing the dried blood still on the wall.

“Damn. Must’ve hit that harder than I thought. Sheesh, no wonder I got a scar from it.”

“you mentioned that before. what scar?”

June turned to him and blinked twice in confusion before realizing he probably hadn’t seen it. She beckoned him closer and shifted her bangs out of the way so he could see the new scar, already almost invisible against her pale skin. His eye sockets widened at the sight and he whistled lowly at it, barely masking a grimace of his own.

“sorry about that. probably should have thought about it needing stitches.”

“Eh,” she replied, mussing her bangs back into place with a shrug. “Not a big deal, really. Just wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about it earlier ‘cause it’s like adding to the collection. But since I have a shit-ton more, it’s whatever. Don’t worry about it.”

G stared at her a minute, processing that as she looked off towards the other end of Snowdin, pointedly distracting herself with thoughts of calculating distance and the fastest route to where the Core normally was. After all, the original location was as good a place to start looking as any, right?

“so you have a lot of scars, then.”

“Yup,” she replied, popping the P, still thinking.

“just how many we talking?”

“Dunno. Lost count years ago. Quit trying to keep track after that. How far is it to the Lab? The one in Hotland, I mean.”

“uh, depends. things down here aren’t quite as simple as point a to point b.”

“Mm. Rough estimate, then?”

“few hours, maybe? assuming we _can_ get from here to there without too much trouble.”

“Mkay. And since it’s almost guaranteed not to be that easy on foot…how low is the ceiling over there? Or, rather, how low are the lowest stalactites in that section of the Underground?”

G blinked and stared at her some more.

“alright. you gonna tell me what you’re thinking, or are you gonna make me guess?”

“Hmm?” June asked, returning her attention to him, blinking the mathematical and strategic clouds out of her mind. “Oh, sorry. I was thinking that the best place to start looking would be where the Core used to be. And since the Lab in Hotland is close to the Core, I was trying to figure out the fastest way there. I was asking about the ceiling and stalactite heights because I figured the fastest way there – bar your willingness to teleport that far – would be to fly. But I don’t want to bust a wing on a stalactite, so…”

“ah. not gonna lie, i completely forgot you mentioned you can sprout wings on a whim. that would definitely speed things up, if everything were in the places they were supposed to be. but won’t you get tired?”

“Eventually. But not for a while. Hell, assuming you come with me and I’m carrying you the whole way, my arms will tire out from carrying you before I get tired from flying. Used to train myself with my powers back on the surface. Besides that, I’ve got ridiculously high stamina…for a human, anyway.”

“is that so? in more ways than one?”

June smirked, seeing what he was playing at and decided to forgo her original question for a much more fun one.

“Depends. That something you’d rather find out for yourself?”

G clammed up, his cheekbones turning gold again as she whipped his attempt at flustering her back in his face. She chuckled and leaned close, turning up her seductive charms a little.

“You’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that if you wanna get to me, bone boy,” she purred before leaning away, turning on her heel with a smug smirk. Chalk another point up for the human, she thought to herself as she started walking towards the other end of town.

**\-------------------------------------**

G stared after her as she walked off, too flustered to think of a comeback. She knew what she was doing, he could see it in her eyes. Well, maybe not the specifics of the effect she had on him when she did that, but she could guess, and that was enough. It was damned frustrating, though, that she had this effect on him.

The way his magic buzzed in his bones when she looked like that, or sounded like that, or insinuated things…Frisk had done that to him, too, but it was on much rarer occasions. And then, it was after knowing the human for so long that they were close. June he barely knew, and yet she seemed to have a natural talent for setting him on edge like this. It was aggravating, having to deal with controlling his magic around her every time she did it. She’d embarrassed him once for staring at her chest (she’d guessed right, he was actually looking at her Soul, not her breasts), and he refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing what she did to him with just a look or a few words. Yet she was just as frustrating when she seemed so pleased with herself for seeing him try and control himself! (Well, that magic had to go _somewhere,_ after all. So of course it _had_ to be to his face.)

At this point, G was half tempted to let her try and find the Core by herself. Wash his hands of her and be done with it. But the Underground was a pretty big place, a part of him whispered. She could get lost. Or something could happen to her. And besides, they were the only ones down here. He’d probably end up seeking her out again eventually, just to have someone else to talk to. Or maybe she’d come to him. Either way, she would need him more than she realized – after all, this wasn’t the same Underground she remembered. He knew that better than anyone. June was smart, strong, and independent, but even she would need help.

Though, that little smile she gave him as she glanced over her shoulder at him…she was planning something. She hadn’t looked away fast enough for him not to catch the mischievous glint in her dark eyes. She was doing something with her hands, but thinking about her eyes and that wicked little smile, adding it to the damned distracting sway of her hips as she walked –

Suddenly, she turned, and his eyes darted up again – but not fast enough to dodge the snowball headed his way. It hit him hard enough to knock him off balance, and he stumbled backwards, trying to right himself. Unfortunately, fate seemed to have other ideas, as he wound up landing on his ass in the snow. Stars above, where had June gotten the cold snow? It was freezing and had gotten into his eye sockets and up his nasal cavity –

But after he managed to scrape enough away that he could look at her again, he heard laughter ring out – _her_ laughter, honest, full-bodied, hand-half-heartedly-trying-to-cover-her-mouth-to-stifle-it kind of laughter – followed by the warmest, most bewitching smile he’d seen on her yet…he couldn’t help but stare. And this time, he knew his magic was buzzing and dusting his cheeks with gold for an entirely different reason.

“You coming or what?”

Her voice brought him out of his thoughts, and he did his best to level a glare at her.

“i’ll be there once i get the snow out of my skull.”

She laughed again, lighter this time, but still just as pretty as before. Then she waved her hand, as if to tell him to take his time, and wandered over to a nearby building, leaning on it to wait for him.

G actually did take the time to get the (still freezing fucking cold) snow out of his skull before getting up and brushing himself off, sighing. He risked a glance in June’s direction, only to see her with that thoughtful, faraway look on her face again. He’d seen it when she’d been thinking before, but this time was different. This time, there were no gears turning over in her mind. This time, it was something wistful, or worried. She was probably thinking about her sister, he realized. Even now, though, something about her…dammit, she wasn’t even trying (not even looking at him, not even fucking _doing_ anything), and she still managed to get a response out of his Soul. He tipped his head back and sighed to himself before forcing his feet to move towards her.

“so, are we not gonna talk about the whole scars thing, or…?”

“Not really a story I want to get into right now. Sorry, big guy. Maybe another time. Besides, I’m pretty sure we’ve both had enough story time for today.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong there. Which only prompted him to think…what was he getting himself into this time? And was backing out now still an option?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Footsteps pounded on the ground and echoed throughout the empty corridor. The source was another child, who was gone as quick as she came through, her black hair streaming behind her along with the tears that fell down her face. Joining the echoing footsteps where soft mutterings of apologies such as _“I’m so sorry,” “I’ll fix this…somehow,”_ and _“…not too late.”_
> 
> The cave slowly descended into quiet as the echoes ceased, at which point, another small child stepped out of a niche along the path, looking after the sprinting girl.
> 
> Chara had just been finishing up the monsters in this section of the Underground and had been about to move on to the next area when the girl had made her presence known with a loud sob some ways behind them. Chara had quickly moved into the hole in the wall just in time to hide until the girl had passed, stirring up some of the Dust of the monster they had just killed beforehand. They tilted their borrowed head to the side, wondering how another human had made it down here, how they knew where to go, and how had she moved so fast.
> 
> Something stirred inside Chara’s mind, pushing as close to the surface as they could. Chara let out a groan at being bothered by Frisk again. They had been silent most of this run, not even making a noise when Chara had killed Toriel, or Papyrus, or Undyne; no reaction, so to have them here now was annoying.
> 
> “Ugh, what do you want? You’ve been silent for most everything that’s happened so far, but now you get up out of the hole you crawled into just because there’s a new player? Pathetic.” Chara sneered that last bit, having lost respect for their partner once Frisk started feeling guilty about all the killing and asking – even begging – for Chara to just Reset and make things right again. But they weren’t about to do that any time soon, especially not with this new player added to the mix.
> 
>  
> 
> _*You need to stop. We can still go back. We can make this right-_
> 
>  
> 
> “No! You need to stop bugging me. You wanted this, remember? You started us on this path, and I’m going to finish it.” A smile spread across Chara’s borrowed face, almost to the point of it being painful. Not that they minded. The pain helped keep Frisk away. Or, it normally did, but Frisk seemed to have amassed some determination in their reprieve, and was putting it to use when Chara went to follow after the new kid, hindering them to the best of their abilities. This was really pissing Chara off now.
> 
> “Hey, you had your chance, but you gave it up! You gave up that right when you gave into me. Now step back and let me go…” 
> 
>  
> 
> _*I was weak, I know, but now I need to do something; this has gone on long enough! I am determined enough to make you stop this._
> 
>  
> 
> Chara scoffed at Frisk’s little speech.
> 
> “Pfft, as if. You’re barely able to do what you’re doing now. How would you ever be able to stop me? When were you ever in control?” And with that, Chara threw off Frisk’s hold and marched forward, knife held at the ready for any other wayward monsters they might encounter. Time to get to the Hall and see how this would end.


	36. Enter the Demon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _THWACK_
> 
>  
> 
> With one hit, the Pyrope’s HP dropped to zero. The child grinned as she watched the helpless monster’s body crumble to dust before her eyes, giggling. It was too easy now. Far too easy. Undyne hadn’t even been a challenge this time, and she was usually one of the toughest to fight. She was usually the second most fun. Especially the part where they watched her melt instead of turning to dust right away. That was always so satisfying.
> 
> But she was getting off track again. She had to focus if she didn’t want the other one to take control again and try to stop her. Still, as they attempted to move on, she heard their voice pipe up again.
> 
> “I’m so sorry, Pyrope…”
> 
> “Oh hush, you,” she spat. It had been their fault, anyway. She hadn’t started this. She hadn’t forced them to do any of this…not in the beginning, at least.
> 
> “Don’t ‘hush’ me, Chara!” the other answered, tears and sorrow and regret in their voice. “It’s _my_ body, and you’re using it to kill monsters! They were your friends once! They’re my friends now! Or they were…I still want them to be…but that can’t happen if they’re all dead!”
> 
> “You’re better off without them, trust me.”
> 
> “Chara, please! Just stop! Stop for once! _Please,_ stop killing!” Frisk begged, getting just enough control to make Chara’s movements hesitant and slow, as if each step took an insane amount of effort. Honestly, it did. Frisk was strong – Determined, just like she had been once – but she was stronger. She always had been. It just took a little push to show her how strong she really was.
> 
> “We’ve been over this, Frisk!” Chara hissed back, her lips curling into a fierce snarl. “This is _my_ body now, and I’ll do with it whatever I want! You had your chance to make things right, and you refused! I—”
> 
> All of a sudden, she heard something. But hadn’t she killed most of the monsters in Hotland by now? Who on earth could be approaching her? Curiosity stilled her form and tongue as she listened. Perhaps the footsteps could give her a clue…
> 
> The footfalls were timed that whoever it was stood right around the smiley trash bag’s height…but it couldn’t be him. In all the Loads, in all the timelines, through every Reset, they both had only ever seen him really active and moving during their fight. And whoever this was, was running – no, sprinting. They were moving very, very fast, and Chara was curious enough to move so that she was hidden just off the beaten path through Hotland. She wanted to know just who was in such a hurry through the Underground.
> 
> And it was good that she did, because moments later, a girl came rushing down the path. Tears streaming, chest heaving, arms and legs pumping, the girl – this sudden, new, unexpected human girl – practically flew by, looking panicked and grief-stricken. Long hair, black as night, flared out behind her like it was caught in a breeze. But that was all Chara registered of the girl’s physical appearance before her words caught up to the child.
> 
> “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’ll make things right! I’m gonna fix it! I’m almost there; oh, please don’t let me be too late! I’m coming! I’ll fix it, I swear!”
> 
> The ravenette’s voice was high and light, making her sound close in age to Frisk, but her words were broken and desperate, riddled with sobs and pants from her exertion. However, everything about this was…strange. Not wrong, per say, but…off. Who was she talking to? The monsters? They were all piles of dust along the road, she could see that. The little grey mounds were impossible to miss. But more pressing, how did she know about the monsters? What did she know about them? How had she gotten down here? Why was she in the Underground in the first place?
> 
> And just what was she promising to dead, deaf ears to fix, exactly?
> 
> …well, only one way to find out.
> 
> Chara grinned and giggled softly to herself as she slowly set out to follow the mystery human. There was no hurry to catch up. After all, they’d end up in the same place. And besides, if this girl was a new plaything…Chara wanted to be ready for her.
> 
>  
> 
> ****  
> _\------------------------------------------------_  
>   
> 
>  **** _POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!_ There are big mentions of blood and character death in this chapter. Since they play a central role in the end of the chapter, I'll fence it off with exclamation points as usual to make it skippable and leave a summary of the section in the end notes. Thanks for your patience, guys! -S

May recovered her balance before she could fall and sighed in relief.

“Geez, Sans. You scared me!” she breathed, oblivious to the glare he was giving her before she’d spoken. When she looked up at him again, she couldn’t miss the incredulous look on his face. She was about to ask what was wrong when she remembered what the issue was.

“Right. Again, I always forget you won’t remember us…look, I don’t know if we have time to talk about this, but I’ll try to keep this as brief and helpful as I can. My name is May, and my sister and I have been travelling through the different universes trying to save them. Only, my sister’s not here. We got separated, and it’s just me. Anyway, I know you’re waiting for the other human – the kid, the one able to do all the Saves and Loads and Resets – but I’m here to tell you not to fight them. I know, it seems like a crazy thing to ask of you after what they’ve done – and yes, I know what they’ve done. Honestly, as much as it hurts me to have seen the aftermath of their actions, to just _know_ that all my friends…they’re all gone…I can’t even being to imagine what you’re going through. But you can’t fight them, Sans. I know you’re stronger than any other monster, you just don’t let anyone else know. But as long as that kid can use their magic, even you don’t stand a chance.”

The more May said, the more bewildered Sans looked, until he just couldn’t wait any longer.

“whoa, whoa, whoa, kid. for starters, how the he-” Sans hesitated to correct himself, “heck do you know any of that? and how do i know you’re not with the kid, trying to convince me not to fight ‘em to make it easier for them?”

“Because if I were here with them, I’d either have stopped them myself by now, or they would’ve killed me for trying! And I already told you, I don’t think I have time to explain everything before they get here, so _please_ just _listen to me!_ Whatever happens, don’t fight them unless you literally don’t have another choice. They’re a mage. A red mage, and the Saves, Loads, and Resets? That’s their magic. As long as they have access to that, you can’t fight them. Eventually, they’ll learn all your moves, and even if you switch up your attack patterns, they’ll still find a way. That’s what a red Soul does. They’re determination. They’ll keep going until they’ve found a way. And when they do, it’ll be too late to save everyone.”

“wait, what? kid, you’re not making sense. everyone…you know that monsters can’t be brought back like humans can, right?”

“Yeah, because they turn to dust when they die. I know. But most humans can’t be brought back when they die either. Like, if you were to kill me right now, I’m pretty sure I won’t come back. I’m like…ninety-five percent sure I won’t come back. I’m not a red mage. I don’t have that kind of magic. So if I die, most likely, there won’t be a Reset. But that’s the thing. If there is a Reset – all the choices they’ve made, all the things they’ve done, all the monsters they’ve killed – it all gets reversed. Everything goes back to square one. All we have to do is convince the kid to Reset.”

“yeah? sounds like you’ve got this all figured out. since you still haven’t given me a reason yet, i’ll ask again: why should i trust you? how do i know you’re not gonna stab me in the back? how do i know you’re not a homicidal maniac like them and just want to take their place? and the way you’re talking…you sound like you’re saying you’re a mage, too. how do i know you haven’t been lying through your teeth to me?”

May huffed a frustrated sigh. She understood his caution and mistrust after what this human had done when they came to the Underground, but at the same time, she also just needed him to listen to her and cooperate. Why was that so difficult?

“Oh, for…look,” she rolled her eyes, “maybe you’re right and nothing I’ve said so far has been convincing enough to get you to trust me. But if I haven’t given you a reason to trust me, then I sure as heck haven’t given you a reason _not_ to trust me, either. So please, just…take a chance, here. A little leap of faith that maybe, just maybe, I’m telling the truth and only want to help you.”

“so what would you suggest, then? you and me sit down and talk somewhere else while the kid just waltzes through here, completely unopposed?”

“No. I mean, sitting down and resting sounds… _wonderful_ right about now…but, no. I don’t want you to fight them. But that doesn’t mean we leave this place unattended for them to do whatever they please.”

“so what _is_ your plan, kid?”

“May. And my plan…if they haven’t gotten this far yet, then I’ll stay and wait for them. I’ll talk to them. Try to get them to see what they’ve done is wrong, and they have the power to fix it. And if that doesn’t work…I’ll force them to stay here for as long as I can hold them. And maybe, with that time to think, they’ll realize it on their own.”

Sans openly stared at May as if she were crazy. But the serious look on her face left little room for doubt. She meant what she said, and it wasn’t going to do any good to try and change her mind.

“you _do_ realize they’ll just fight you, right? even if you choose to act? even though you’re going to show them nothing but mercy? if you think _i_ won’t stand a chance, even though i would fight back…kid, they’ll tear you to pieces.”

“I don’t care. Someone needs to show them there’s another way. They need to see that they don’t have to hurt others, and if it takes a pacifist to teach them what compassion and kindness is, then so be it. I’ll get them to stop. I’ll get them to change. Even if it kills me. You’ll see.”

Sans’ eye sockets went wide as her Soul pulsed within her from her words, her purple perseverance shining through. She ignored the look, turning on her heel and plopping down on the floor, her back to Sans.

“geez, kid. you’re actually gonna do this? why?” he asked, circling around to look at her again. He was even more confused when her stubborn expression softened as she looked up at him again.

“Because you’re my friend. And so were the other monsters. There are a lot of monsters I don’t know, that much is true. But the ones I do are some of the best people I’ve ever met…and the best friends I’ve ever had. Things have been tough in the Underground for me and my sister, I won’t lie. But I’ve had the time of my life making friends with everyone, and getting to know them, and helping each and every one of them.”

May’s Soul again began to shine from within her, but rather than being one strong pulse as it had in the past, it began as a soft and gentle glow, staying with her as she talked.

“I mean, Toriel is the mother me and my sister never got to have. Undyne is like a second big sister to me, and she’s my actual sister’s best friend. Alphys is a lot like a sister to me too, but in her own way that’s different than with Undyne. Muffet is kind of what I imagine having a cool aunt is like, truth be told. And Grillby – gosh, he’s done so much for me and my sister! I guess he’s kind of the cool uncle? But it’s different than with Muffet.”

The more she spoke, the brighter the glow became, slowly overtaking the golden light filtering into the room from all around. And now that it was brighter, it was more obvious that her Soul was pulsing a steady rhythm, as if it were a second heartbeat.

“And Papyrus…he’s always different every time I meet him, but he’s always my best friend. He and I are so much alike. We both see the best in others, and believe everyone can be kind, given the chance. We put trust in others easily, and are really protective of our siblings. We like to cook, even if we don’t know how to cook very many things, or very well. We both have big dreams, and we’re passionate about them – and everything we do, really! We’re both so full of energy, it’s hard for others to keep up. Both of us are really friendly, we have faith in everyone, we rarely make our own puns, we’re inseparable from our siblings…I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been compared to each other!”

May giggled warmly, shifting a little where she sat, the green light she was unwittingly producing trailing after her as she wiggled. Then she turned her dancing, sparkling blue eyes on Sans, affection clear in her gaze.

“And you…you’re different every time we meet, too. And while you and I aren’t as close as I am to Papyrus in every universe, we are good friends. I laugh at almost all your jokes, no matter how bad they are. You’ve loaned me your hoodie so many times, I lost track of them. More than once, you’ve gotten in trouble because of me. But you always say you don’t mind, and even that you were happy to take the heat for me. More than once, I’ve protected you, too. We’ve fought side by side together, and we made a decent team. Heck, I’m pretty sure one of you had a crush on me, even! But even so, you and Paps both are the brothers I’ve never had, and that’s something really special. And I’ve met and befriended so many other monsters, too. The canine guards, they’re awesome. And Napstablook, oh he’s so nice! Even if he _is_ really shy. Oh, and Shyren, she’s so cool! She and I sang together like it was nobody’s business! And Monster Kid, he’s so enthusiastic about everything! Oh, wait, he wanted me to call him MK. Whoops. Gosh, let’s see, who else…”

“kid…” Sans weakly tried to interrupt her, stepping back a bit. Even without the light coming from her Soul, the kindness she infused into the very air was almost stifling.

“Anyway, my point is…you, Paps, Undyne, Alphys, Muffet, Grillby, Toriel, _everyone_ … you’re all my friends. And it feels like we’re all a part of one big family. And after it was just me and my sister for so long, having a huge family like this means a lot. To both of us. And now, to have someone messing with that family…I won’t stand for it. That’s why I’m doing this. If this kid thinks they can get away with what they’ve done to you guys, to my family… they’ve got another thing coming. No one messes with the people I love and gets away with it.”

The kindness and love radiating off May at this point bathed her in a halo of bright green energy, the light coming from her Soul practically blinding when it pulsed its rhythm. Sans was silent, looking shocked and even a little humbled by the sight. When May focused her gaze on him again, she shook off the emotions her words brought with them, and the light quickly faded. With it went the magic permeating the air from her feelings, and as she tilted her head at him in puzzlement, Sans stared at her with newfound awe and respect.

“What? Was it something I said?”

The skeleton hesitated before speaking again, as if he had to search for the right words for what he wanted to say.

“yeah, kind of. just…you’re…committed, i’ll give you that. here i was asking why i should trust you…well, if that wasn’t a good enough reason, i don’t know what is. i’m honestly not sure about this plan of yours, but if anyone can get through to that kid, i think it might be you, kiddo – i mean, may.”

The ravenette’s expression went from curiosity to surprise, then to a beaming, thousand-watt grin, pleased that she finally got Sans to listen.

“Thanks, Sans. I knew you’d come around eventually.”

“yeah, well…even if i didn’t trust ya right away, i can see now that you’re a good kid, may. you’re so full of kindness that it overflows into everything and everyone around you. you’re so innocent and gentle too, and people as pure as you are rare. and that’s why i’m not going anywhere.”

“Huh?”

“look, i’m willing to go along with your plan, but i’m making one thing clear. you said so yourself, everyone you’ve met so far is friends with you. i can guarantee that as much as you care about them, they care about you, too. and if anything happened to you, everyone would be heartbroken. and i’d be willing to bet that your sister would be a lot more than just heartbroken if something did happen. so i’m not gonna let it. the plan now is that we try things your way. but, if at any point it goes south and the kid hurts you or tries to kill you, i’m stepping in. you evidently have a lot of people who love you, may. and on their behalf, i’m going to keep you safe.”

May blinked, taken aback. Well, this was turning out very differently than she had it in her head. (Well, that’s what you get for charging down here without a solid plan, silly!)

“Oh. Wow. Um. You…you won’t hurt them, though. Until they hurt me?”

“man, you really are the pacifist type, aren’t ya? i won’t lay a phalange on ‘em unless they do something to you first. you have my word.”

May smiled now, actually put at ease. She knew Sans wasn’t the type to make promises, so the fact that he willingly promised not to harm the other child unless provoked wasn’t lost on her. She waited until he finished shuffling around next to her to fling her arms around him (or the best she could do without getting up from her seat on the floor). She felt him stiffen, but hugged him anyway.

“Thanks, Sans. I know how you hate promises, so it means that much more to me that you did. It’ll be worth it. I just know it.”

Sans relaxed in her grip, looking down at her as she smiled and glanced up at him.

“you know when this is over we’re going to have to talk about all the other stuff you mentioned, right?”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll have to _throw you a bone_ later, though,” she giggled, winking at the pun she made. Sans looked taken aback for a minute, then grinned and laughed. May beamed proudly. She had a gift for bringing light and laughter into the darkest moments. It was a skill she undoubtedly loved that she had.

The moment was cut short, however, when movement at the other end of the hall caught their attention. She knew that it was a child who’d caused all the destruction in the Underground, but the ravenette was still caught off guard by how young they looked. They were a bit smaller than her, with tanned skin, brown hair, and wearing a blue-and-purple striped sweater that was too big for them with blue shorts and brown boots. They would have looked like any other kid, but their too-wide smile sent shivers down her spine. Coupled with the thick layer of dust on their clothes, they seemed…off. Wrong, somehow, and in such a way that even May could sense it as they approached.

The young girl swallowed nervously as her confidence wavered, but she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and steeled her resolve, reminding herself why she was here. When she opened her eyes again, the stubborn look was back, and she got to her feet again, ignoring the protests of her aching body. Her heart hammered in anticipation, but she was ready. When the other human child stopped a short distance from her, she spoke.

“So. You’re the one who’s been hurting and killing everyone.”

“And you’re something new,” the child replied, looking very interested in her. “There’s never been another human in the Underground before.”

“That’s because things around here need to change. You need to stop. Hurting everyone the way you have is wrong. I know you’ve heard that before. I know you know that. And I know that deep down, some part of you doesn’t want to keep doing this. So please, don’t. You can put the knife down. You can stop this. You don’t have to keep killing.”

“You’re right. I don’t have to. But it’s just so much fun! So no. I don’t think I’ll be stopping any time soon.”

May’s face fell a little, but she fixed them with a defiant expression and straightened her spine, stretching out to her full height.

“You know, I meant to mention…you’re younger than I was expecting.”

“Looks are deceiving.”

“Oh, trust me,” May replied with a humorless laugh, “I know. I know better than most that looks are deceiving. After all, being underestimated…that’s a huge tactical advantage, right?”

“Yeah. Though I’m a bit surprised you know anything about that.”

May chuckled, giving them an almost smug look.

“Like I said, I know better than most. And I can show you what I mean. Just looking at me, how old would you say I am?”

The child paused, studying her for a minute, then shrugged.

“You don’t look that much older, so…nine, ten years old, maybe?”

“And you’d be wrong. I’m actually twelve.”

The kid looked shocked, and May could swear she saw that even Sans’ head snapped to her out of surprise in her peripheral vision.

“Geez, you’re little for someone that old!”

“Yeah, I know,” May sighed with a roll of her eyes. “But see, that’s what I’m talking about. People see me, and even if they know my real age, they underestimate me. Just like you, people have no idea what I’m capable of. They think because I’m small, I’m weak. I’m easy. And it’s because I deal with the same thing you do all the time that I know better than to underestimate you. I said you’re younger than I expected. That doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re capable of hurting me to get what you want.”

“Huh. You’re certainly smarter than you look, then.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Anyway, look. I don’t expect you to just drop everything and listen to me just because I ask. I don’t expect you to listen just because I’m older. And I certainly don’t expect you to listen just because we have a couple things in common. But what I do expect is that you’ll at least hear me out before deciding what to do. If not out of human decency…then out of curiosity for what I’m going to say. Or am I wrong to hope you’ll even give me a chance?”

The kid tilted their head, as if considering it.

“Well, I _am_ curious…but I’d be willing to bet you can multitask. How about a compromise? You go ahead and talk and blab all you want…but I’m gonna try and kill you in the meantime!”

Then the child darted forward and slashed with the knife, narrowly missing May as she gasped and dodged to the side, splitting her and Sans apart. She briefly shuddered as both kids’ Souls were drawn out of them as the confrontation began. Not missing a beat, the dust-covered child giggled madly as they continued to slash and swipe at May, following her movements as she danced around to avoid the damage. While they played this dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, she did try to convince them.

“I know you don’t want to be doing this! Please, stop attacking! We can talk this out! There’s another way to get what you want without killing others!”

“If I didn’t want to be doing this, I wouldn’t be fighting you, stupid! And have you considered that maybe what I want is for them to die? Maybe I want to keep killing.”

“Why? Why would you want them to die? The monsters are nice, kind people! I’ve only ever met two monsters who were ever actually mean or cruel. So what could they have possibly done to you for you to want them dead?”

“Ha! That’s adorable. You really think the monsters care about you? They’ll lie to you to gain your trust, then betray you the first chance they get. They’ll promise you one thing, then turn their back on it. Monsters can’t be trusted. They deserve to die.”

“You’re wrong! Whatever monster did that to you, they’re the one you should be angry with, not monsters as a whole. Not all monsters would do that. On principle, monsters are nice. They don’t do stuff like that. And no one deserves to die for it.”

“Wow, so much older, and you’re _that_ naïve? I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long. How has someone not killed you by now?”

“It’s not for lack of trying, that’s for sure.”

“Really? So someone down here has it out for you. So what’d you do to ‘em? How’d you survive? Did you kill them?”

“The only reason he’s got it out for me is because he has it out for everyone! And I didn’t do anything to him. Except exist, maybe, but that’s beside the point. I’ve never so much as hurt him, let alone tried to kill him. And I survive because he ends up running away before the battle’s done. But all that’s not important right now! What matters is _you_ , stopping this!”

“Geez, you’re like a dog with a bone about that. Don’t you ever give up?”

“Kid…in case you haven’t noticed, my Soul has two colors. One of them is purple.”

“So?”

“ _So_ , a purple Soul embodies perseverance. So I have purple in my Soul for a reason. Meaning, no, I’m not giving up. Not until I can change your mind!”

“Not gonna happen, girly! And my name’s not kid!”

Whatever retort May had was cut off as she miss-stepped, accidentally tripping herself over her own feet, and she squeaked in alarm as she fell to the floor. She quickly turned over, but before she could get back to her feet, the child leapt on her, as if to pin her to the ground. And while May could have tried to throw them off of her and get back to her feet, the blade they positioned just behind the shield that protected her Soul gave her pause. It was obvious they could kill her now if they wanted to, but as the two kids lay their panting, the child didn’t deliver the blow. But why? Were they waiting for something?

“I knew you couldn’t dodge forever. But this was a fun little distraction. You’re not like the other toys down here. I like you. Too bad you didn’t stand a chance.”

“Wait!” she cried as they lifted the knife to strike. “I…before you kill me…I realized we don’t actually know each other’s names. Maybe that’s not important to you, but I’d like to know the name of the one who caused so much pain and suffering. Besides, if I’m such and interesting plaything to you, wouldn’t you like to know what to call me when you remember me?”

The child paused, tilting their head and giving her a thoughtful look.

“You know what? You’re actually right for once. It’d be nice to look back on this and have a name to go with the face.”

“Okay then. My name is Mayflower. Mayflower Elizabeth Skies. But everyone calls me May.”

“Hmm. Mayflower…what a pretty name for such a pretty girl. I wonder what you’ll look like when you’re lying in a pool of your own blood?”

 

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** _

 

The kid’s grin stretched even wider as they drew the blade back and brought it down towards her Soul again. Despite how tired she was, May’s reaction time was still good, and her hand shot up to stop the blow. She heard Sans gasp somewhere behind her at the same time the kid did as she grabbed the knife by the blade, stopping it from reaching her Soul. She flinched in pain as she felt the blade slice into her hand with hardly any resistance, but she gritted her teeth and used the chance to roll herself over, knocking the child off balance and onto the ground with her. She then shoved the child hard, sending them sliding across the floor away from her and effectively yanking the blade from her other hand, forcing the cut deeper.

May panted as she struggled to her feet again, cradling her badly bleeding hand close to herself. Sans was by her side in an instant, eye sockets wide. She didn’t even need to look at him to know he was freaking out and blaming himself that she got hurt, but she kept her eyes on the child, growling out, “I’m fine,” before he could even say anything.

“yeah, i’m sure your hand is supposed to be doing that,” Sans replied, sarcasm thick in his tone. May just shot him a look, then quickly glanced back at the kid, who was looking rather angrily at her in return.

“This isn’t even the worst I’ve looked. Trust me, I’m fine. Besides, I’ve got a couple tricks up my sleeve still. Don’t get your shorts in a twist just yet,” she gave him a pained, yet confident smirk. Then she returned her attention to the kid, who was looking at her with new interest.

“You’ve been hurt worse than that? Was it the guy who wanted to kill you? If not – for a pacifist, you sure know how to make enemies.”

“No way, kid. I’m not answering another question of yours until you answer mine. I gave you what you wanted to know. Now it’s my turn.”

The child snorted and rolled their eyes, and May could practically feel Sans bristling at her side.

“give it up, frisk. she knows about everything. i don’t know how, but she does. no use keeping her in the dark.”

“My name’s not Frisk, you smiley trash bag. _I_ am not the little brat you thought you knew. _I_ am the Demon Who Comes When Its Name is Called. And that name is Chara.”

May paused, looking the child up and down. There were a few explanations for why Sans thought the kid’s name was Frisk, but they called themselves Chara. And given how strangely things worked in the Underground…any of them were possible.

“Chara, huh? Alright then, Chara. Either you’re a part of Frisk by way of Multiple Personality Disorder, you’re actually the demon you claim to be and you’re possessing Frisk, or you’re a vengeful spirit possessing Frisk. Honestly, I can’t tell which. But whatever it actually is, it means that Frisk is in there somewhere with you. And I’d be willing to bet that they’re a pacifist like me. I’d like to talk to them, but since it’d be rude to ignore you at the same time…I’ll just talk to you both. What I’m about to say may come as a shock, but hear me out. I know you’re a mage. And guess what? I am too. But…well…I don’t exactly play by the same set of rules as everyone else.”

She knew she had Chara’s attention now, but Sans looked pretty surprised, too. She knew it was risky to be explaining this to the one person who could possibly use it against her, but she didn’t care. It was buying her time, and that was something she desperately needed.

“See how my Soul has two colors to it? Not even monsters’ Souls are like that. Least, so I’m told. Anyway, that’s actually really important to me and my sister, ‘cause not only are both of us like that, but it affects us in a really big way. The working theory is that it’s the reason we’re mages. Even though other human mages only have one color to their Souls, like everyone else. Again, that’s what I’m told. But, like any other mage, our Soul colors reflect the kind of magic we can do. Difference is, we don’t control just one type of magic. Because we have two colors, we have two kinds of magic. My sister? Orange and blue. But me?”

May chuckled, channeling her magic until she felt the excess seeping off her hands, opening her eyes again. The twin trails of emerald and violet magic escaping from the normally pale blue hues snapped in the air around her, casting her confident smirk in an almost sinister light.

“I control green and purple magic. Which means I can do this.”

She again closed her eyes, calling on her healing magic, the purple light from her other half fading until she was eclipsed by a green aura. She then opened her injured hand and showed it to Chara while placing her uninjured hand over where her Soul would be in her chest. This sent the magic back into herself, healing the wound, and both Sans and Chara watched with fascination as the wound sealed without so much as a mark to indicate where it had been. When May’s eyes fluttered open again, she smiled, her magic fading out of existence.

“Useful, that one. Still a bit dizzy and lightheaded from losing so much blood before I healed the cut, but I mean…can’t expect it to be perfect. And hey, it gets the job done. Can’t complain there. But do you understand why I showed you that?”

Chara blinked, drawing their eyes away from May’s now smooth and unblemished palm, still soaked in blood. When they found her face again, their creepy smile returned, a new light in their eyes that she didn’t like.

“I think I do. You wanted me to know that I actually underestimated you. You’re not the easy prey I thought you were. No, you’re a much more interesting toy than any of the others ever were. You’re going to be much harder to kill. So I’ll have to find other ways to get to you.”

May frowned, purposely shifting where she stood to try to draw Chara’s attention away from whatever was over her shoulder. She had a bad feeling about the inspired look in their eye, she was quickly learning to trust her instincts. It wasn’t until she remembered that Sans was still standing next to her that she realized where Chara’s attention kept drifting off to. Her eyes went wide with understanding, and when Chara noticed this, their grin got even bigger. She prayed they weren’t thinking what she feared they were.

Then Chara lunged. It wasn’t clear whom they were aiming for, but Sans stepped in the way to shield May, regardless. As time seemed to warp and slow around her, she knew there were only two outcomes to this situation. Neither one were good, and both ended with someone dying. But she knew there wasn’t a choice to be made here. She didn’t have time to draw on her purple magic and trap the child before the blow landed, and even though Sans would have time to teleport out of the way, there wasn’t time to make sure May was teleported too, meaning she would be vulnerable to the strike. And as he’d said, he wasn’t going to allow anything to happen to her if he could help it. This meant she only had one real option.

The split second before Chara brought down their blade, May tackled Sans out of the way, the sharp metal sinking into her flesh as the child hit home. Chara drew back quickly, a triumphant smile on their face as they examined their handiwork. Sans was frozen in shock as he stared at the young ravenette. Chara, being smaller than May, had managed to slip the blade under her shield and past her Soul, cutting deep into the girl’s abdomen.

May staggered where she stood, one arm covering the wound some. She was losing too much blood too quickly. She knew she didn’t have it in her to heal a wound this severe unless it were on someone else. No, her green magic wasn’t going to do her any good now. Chara had seen the flaw and exploited it just as May had suspected. As she felt herself slowly going numb, she fell to her knees and coughed, finding that breathing made it worse. The girl had never been forced to face her own mortality before, but staring death in the face now…she found herself unafraid. But she wasn’t ready yet. She had said she would get through to Chara – and by extension, Frisk – if it killed her. And she was a girl who kept her word.

Using the last of her strength, she coughed again and made herself look towards Chara defiantly, gritting her teeth and forcing air into her lungs to speak.

“Frisk…I…kn-know you can hear me in there. Y-you’re red…determination…for a reason. Please, Frisk…don’t give up. Never give up. I…believe in you…”

Finally, she looked away, curling in on herself with a soft whimper. This flood of memories…it must be what everyone talked about. Their lives flashing before their eyes. She had always wondered if it was just the good times or everything all at once. Now she had her answer. The hot and sticky liquid covering her arms and hands wasn’t blood – it was batter from the time she and June had tried to bake a cake for their mother’s birthday when neither of them knew what they were doing. Their mother had come home to her daughters in the middle of a food fight with the batter, and they all ended up cleaning it together and making brownies instead. The cold seeping into her body was actually the frozen air chilling her skin as she played in the snow with her sister and their monster friends – it had to be. All her friends, across all the universes…she could see all their faces, and they were all there smiling at her, inviting her play in whatever came after death. She could even see her mother and sister there, extending their hands out for her together, getting along for the first time since the girls were little.

As she collapsed to the floor and gasped for air one last time, she found herself thinking of her family, regretting the lies she’d told Jan, and that the last moments she’d had with June weren’t something happier for the older ravenette to remember her by.

_**\-------------------------------------** _

As May’s body slumped to the floor, blood pooled beneath her, and Sans watched in horror as her Soul shuddered once before simply shattering. Watching her die…he could feel the effect in his Soul. She had tried so hard, loved so much, showed such strength and kindness and light and life…and just like that, it was all gone, because she’d chosen to protect him. Slowly, he tore his eyes from her limp form and looked up at Frisk – no, not Frisk. The thing possessing Frisk. Chara. In the raging turmoil that was his emotions right then, his analytical side won out, filling his otherwise blank mind with distractions.

The existence of Chara made much more sense than Frisk just suddenly going on a killing spree. May had guessed right before; Frisk was a pacifist, like her. But as many things as it explained, it also left so many more questions, and right now, he couldn’t process them and May’s death at the same time.

Chara was…actually frowning down at May, looking rather dissatisfied. This triggered a reaction from Sans finally. This brat, this demon who should be burning in Hell right about now rather than possessing some poor kid, had the nerve to look disappointed that her death wasn’t more satisfying?

As he climbed to his feet, the dark stain of May’s blood on his hoodie from her tackling him starting to blend with the red clouding his vision, something clicked in his mind. He’d wanted to trust her from the moment she’d first said she was there to help, and once he finally did start to trust her, he became almost as protective of her as he had been for Papyrus…and he finally understood why. The little girl had mentioned that everyone compared the tall skeleton and her often, and it made sense. They were very alike. So much so, that having her there almost felt like he had a piece of his bother standing there, still alive and offering him hope. Hell, when Alphys had shown him the footage of Chara’s fight with Papyrus…even May’s last words had been similar to Papyrus’. And he’d be damned if May’s death went unanswered. Suddenly, he just didn’t care about the Saves, the Loads, the Resets, any of it. Before May walked in, he was still willing to give the kid a chance. But now that he knew the truth of it…he didn’t care what it took. Chara had to pay.

“may…kiddo…i’m sorry…i know this isn’t what you would have wanted…but i can’t let them keep doing this. and you. i thought that there might be a chance she could get through to you. should’ve known better. i was going to ask you if you thought even the worst person could change. that everyone could be a good person if they just tried. but i guess i have my answer. so instead, i’ll ask you this: **do you wanna have a  b a d  t i m e ?** ”

Chara frowned at the skeleton, rolling their eyes before throwing him an off-handed comment.

“Ugh. I’m not interested in _you_ anymore, ya smiley trash bag. What I want to know is why seeing her die…didn’t feel the same as it did for everyone else. Sure, she was a much more interesting toy, but she died just the same. Hmm…maybe if I Load and fight her again…”

Sans stood stunned. Chara had no interest in fighting him now? They only wanted to fight May? That didn’t make any sense. Then May’s previous words flashed through his mind: _I’m not a red mage. I don’t have that kind of magic. So if I die, most likely, there won’t be a Reset._ So far, she’d been right. Her death hadn’t triggered a Reset. But it made Chara want to Load to fight her again. And if it would bring her back…

As much as it pained him to do it, Sans didn’t initiate combat with Chara, waiting for them to decide what to do. And after a bit, they nodded to themselves, smiling down at May’s body.

“You were the most fun I’ve had in a long time. And I still wanna know why your death was so much different than everyone else’s. So I’ll be seeing you again in a minute. I hope you’re just as interesting the second time around.”

There was split second where everything seemed to warp, and when Sans blinked, everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! So I know we kinda disappeared for a while...that's mostly my fault, since I do most of the chapter posting, and wanted to hold off for a while. Yeah, that intro? I'd written that up alongside Book_Warrior7's ending from last chapter, but when my flashdrive got messed up...we thought it was lost. Turns out, I'd texted pictures of the whole thing to her, so it was saved. However, there's still a lot of writing I'm missing and can't get back now, because my flashdrive seems to be broken beyond repair. It's probably gonna take me a while to get fully back into the swing of things, but please know that I haven't abandoned any of our works - I still plan to continue them. It's just gonna be a bit for me to re-write what was lost. In the meantime, I'm gonna try to get back into my usual posting schedule for BtM. (I know it's Tuesday when I'm doing this, but it's my first day off since the 25th of December, so now is the best time for me to get this done.)  
> So, I will be doing a double update as promised, and I hope you guys enjoy this one. -S
> 
>  **Section Summary:** May managed to stop Chara from stabbing her by grabbing the knife, thus getting hurt in the process. Once she managed to get Chara away from her, they finally told her who they were, and she in turn revealed that she knew they were a mage. She also showed Chara and Sans that she was a mage, using her green magic to heal her hand. Chara knew they'd underestimated her when they saw that, but also got an idea of how else to get to her, lunging at May and Sans. Sans stepped in front of May to protect her, but she knew she didn't have time to stop Chara from landing a hit on one of them, so she tackled Sans out of the way. Chara, being smaller than May, got past her shield and Soul to land the strike, causing near-fatal damage. May urged Frisk to keep fighting Chara before collapsing. She did not survive. Point of view switched to Sans as he processed what just happened, and mentally vowed to avenge May as he planned to do with everyone else. However, Chara no longer had an interest in fighting him. They claimed killing May wasn't the same as killing the monsters, and wanted to find out why. The chapter ended as Chara decided to Load and fight May again.


	37. Echoes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we have literally one word in Gaster speak in this chapter, but it'll still be in the same ROT2 cipher as always. (The translation will be after the text, since G knows what he's saying.) Enjoy the double update, guys! -S

June was walking side by side with G, taking in the state of her surroundings as G explained about the various changes the Shift had caused, when she suddenly felt something. It was a cold feeling from somewhere deep within her, and she froze where she stood, sucking in a sharp gulp of air. She felt like she couldn’t breathe, and her hand gingerly hovered over where her Soul rested in her chest. After a second, she identified the feeling, and her fingers found her necklace, clutching it tightly.

“june?” G asked, turned back to look at her in surprise. When she looked up, she whispered the one thought going through her mind.

“May.”

“what? your sister? what about her?”

“Something’s wrong. Something’s not right. I just…I feel it. Something’s happened,” she rambled, her voice slowly getting louder and more panicked. “She’s hurt. Or scared. Or…I don’t know, but something’s wrong. Something’s happened to her! We have to hurry! We’ve gotta find the Core and power up the watch, w-we’ve gotta – I’ve gotta –”

“june, june. hey, come on. june, look at me,” G said, gently grabbing her face and making her focus on him. “take a deep breath, june. just breathe. like you told science, remember? just a couple deep breaths.”

June closed her eyes and forced herself to nod, taking shuddering deep breaths with G coaxing her until she felt herself calm. The feeling hadn’t gone away, but her anxiety was no longer spiking due to it, so she opened her eyes again, just as scared as before, but thinking more rationally.

“is that any better?”

She took another deep breath and nodded, squeezing his hands still cupping her face. He gave her a gentle smile and swept his thumb across her cheek comfortingly.

“alright then. can you tell me what happened?”

June closed her eyes and forced another breath, then murmured, “I can try.

“I don’t know what happened, but all of a sudden, I got this feeling. Like someone doused my insides in ice water. And I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t say what, but I just knew. Something had gone horribly wrong, and it took me a minute, but I realized what the feeling was. Loss. I’ve felt it before, and but those times, it was gradual. I felt that same coldness just creep up inside me over time. But this, this was sudden, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and I just…I knew it had to be something to do with May. It has to be. The only times I ever lose control of my emotions are when it comes to her, and this…I…”

June was trembling now, tears starting to spill over. G shushed her, wiping them away as best he could. When she finally had control of her voice again, she whispered, “I still feel it. Something’s wrong. Something’s happened to her, and I’m not there. She needs me, G. We have to hurry and find the Core. We have to charge up this damn watch so I can get to her. I have to know. I have to make sure she’s okay.”

G nodded, still wiping away her frantic tears and being as soothing as he could be. She was normally so cool and collected…she really hadn’t been kidding when she said she could whip herself into a panicked frenzy if she wasn’t careful.

“and that’s exactly what we’re gonna do. we’re gonna find the core. we’ll get you to your sister. but for now, we need to focus. can you do that for me?”

June closed her eyes and swallowed thickly, forcing herself to take a few more deep breaths to collect herself. Could she disconnect from her emotions and be the cold, analytical person most people thought she was? Yes. Would it be easy? Hell no. But she could do it, and that’s exactly what she made herself do. It took a bit of meditating and concentrating on her breathing for her to do it, but eventually, the tears stopped and she relaxed. When she opened her eyes again, she was calm, if slightly uneasy because of the lingering sensation in her gut that something was wrong. G was still cupping her face, looking concerned when she opened her eyes, and the faintest blush crept up on her cheeks when she noticed.

“You can let go of my face now.”

G instantly retracted his hands, his cheekbones lightly tinted with color as well. She couldn’t help the amused smirk that found its way onto her face. The lanky skeleton really looked the part of a casanova, but for the most part, he didn’t act it. She resisted the urge to laugh at his blush and tried to reign in her smile before he looked at her again. G sighed, rubbing the back of his skull.

“well, glad you’re at least acting yourself again…look, that feeling you got…you still feel it?”

June’s grin dropped, and she nodded, folding her arms across her chest uncomfortably.

“well, if it goes away, or gets stronger, or goes and comes back – hell, if there’s any change, tell me, alright? i wanna know what’s going on in your head. so i know what to do to help you, i mean,” he quickly amended when she raised an eyebrow at him. She smiled and chuckled at him, and he sighed again. “ugh. that came out weird. are all of us like this with you?”

“You know, Outer asked me the same thing when we first met. Of course, that was after a particularly bad mincing of words on his part, so he blushing pretty bad. At least, I think it was blushing. Since you guys don’t have blood or skin, I kind of just assumed the blue – er, gold, in your case, and red in Fell’s – was supposed to be a blush.”

“yeah…got us pegged, there. skeleton monsters blush the color of their magic.”

“Mm. Interesting. And explains why the color would be different for you and Fell. Anyway, to answer you, almost all of you, yes. The exceptions are Ink, Error, and Sansy. The one from Handplates. He wanted a nickname unique to him, so May settled on Sansy. Poor kid had it bad for her, you could tell. He never had a reaction to me, so that’s why he doesn’t count.”

“ah. how much you wanna bet she’s just as bad about it as you are, though?”

June snorted, amused.

“Oh, I don’t need to bet on that. I know she’s just as bad. But she’s also oblivious to it. After all, she’s still just a kid. Her charms are mostly of the ‘oh my god, that’s fucking adorable’ variety. But when she grows up…she’s gonna be a heartbreaker, just like yours truly. Though, something tells me she won’t be quite the player I am…”

“so you’re a player, then?”

“If I wanna be. I believe the theatre term for me is ‘woman in red’? But more common terms would be temptress. Seductress. Succubus. Siren. Most simply put – I’m a tease. I know my own sex appeal, and I’m not afraid to flaunt it. Maybe that’s frowned upon, but…if someone’s got a problem with me they generally know where the door is. And nine times out of ten, I’m secretly hoping it’ll hit them in the ass on the way out.”

G snorted this time, laughing at her wording. Well, no one ever accused her of lacking confidence. Of course, she was right. She knew exactly what she was, and she didn’t care what anyone else thought. She had to wonder at her own answer, though. Was she really a player? It wasn’t as if she actually led her partners on, or actually “played” them. She let them come to her if they wanted something, and usually, what they wanted was usually a one-time thing. If they wanted more, they came back. But she never let any of them get to a more personal level. That had bothered a few of them, but most didn’t mind that she was distant like that. Hell, a couple of her previous partners actually came back to her for that very reason. She wasn’t clingy and emotional like other girls. But did any of that actually make her a player? She wasn’t sure. But it didn’t seem to matter. G was shaking his head and waving her to follow him again, so she put it out of her mind, instead thinking of…

“Hey. Uh…thanks. For making me chill the fuck out. I –”

“don’t mention it.”

“Uh…excuse me?”

“i know what you were going to say. and i don’t need to hear the rest of it. you freaked because you felt like something was wrong with your sister. and the way you talk about her, i can tell she means a lot to you. so you’ve got nothing to apologize for, and you don’t need to try to explain yourself to me. so don’t mention it. i’m just glad i managed to do half as good calming you down as you did with science.”

June slowed her pace, falling a little behind G as they walked, and stared at him. He was so different from everything she’d come to know and expect out of others when it came to her little ticks, quirks, and flaws. So far, unless it was an intended effect, he’d only reacted the way she was expecting him to once. And then, he changed his behavior to counteract the initial reaction. At every turn, he was surprising her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but she felt it might be a good thing.

“Uh…yeah…well, thanks anyway. So…where were we? How the Shift was affecting the layout of the Underground?”

“right. well, there’s no snow here, so i can’t show you one of my favorite tricks, but…for some reason, the snow in the underground now doesn’t just fall in snowdin. and it’s warm. and will catch fire.”

“ _What?_ ”

“yep. make a snowball and throw it with the stuff down here, it’ll turn into a fireball from the friction from the air.”

“Holy shit! Thank god I used my powers to throw that snowball earlier, then!”

“so _that’s_ how you got the cold snow!”

They both started cracking up at that, and when they settled down, June noticed something in passing. Curiosity getting the better of her, she slowed when she saw it, then approached. It looked like a star-shaped point in space, but rather than glowing or shining brightly like she would have expected, it was black, like the point itself was corrupted or unusable somehow. It wasn’t until she was reaching for it that G noticed that she’d wandered away on her own.

“hey, that’s-!”

June hissed as she yanked her hand away from the dark point, having touched it with unexpected results. She quickly took a step back, cradling her hand to her chest. G rushed over and examined her hand.

“I’m alright. Little scalded, maybe, but more surprised than anything.”

“honestly, i’m surprised you could even see the damn thing,” G sighed, letting go of her hand now that it was obvious she really was unharmed. “but since it seems to react negatively to you and i can guarantee we’re going to be seeing more of those, don’t go around touching any more of them.”

“Yeah, consider it lesson learned,” June snorted darkly, leveling a wary glare at the dark spot. “What the hell is it, anyway?”

“a save point. normally, it allows you to save the particular point in time you interacted with it and come back to that point if you need to. like if you die or something. with one of them active, you’d be able to die and come back to this point in time, before whatever occurred that killed you. but because of the shift, all the save points around the underground have been…like this. they can’t be used, so no saving – here, or anywhere else.”

“So basically, they’re normally really fucking convenient. But with them all screwy like everything else, you don’t get second chances if you fuck up. This…if something goes wrong, you’re screwed. Game over.”

“yep. though, it’d be like that for me with or without the save points.”

“Huh?”

“yeah. monsters can’t use them. but – and this is a guess here, because i’ve only ever had one other human to test this with – humans can. again, normally.”

“Right. So either it flat out rejected me, or it has nothing to do with me and just rejected the stimuli because it’s so severely fucked up. Hmm. Kinda curious which it actually is…or if it’s actually a bit of both. The human you did this with before – I’m assuming it’s the Frisk character you were asking me about when I first woke up? Was she a mage? What color was her Soul? Or, did you know? I know Souls are a really fucking complicated topic for you guys…”

G stared at her, mostly in surprise. She had a tendency to forget that her sexy-tough-badass image didn’t generally clue people in to the fact that she was actually incredibly intelligent. Not a genius by any means, but she had a mind as sharp as any blade, and she relied on it as much as she did any of her powers or other skills.

“actually, i think she might have been a mage, but we weren’t sure. and i did know the color, actually. red. and there’s a reason it’s such a weird topic, ya know.”

“I know. Well, sort of. I don’t have all the details, but whatever. Back to the thing at hand here. So this Frisk…assuming she was a mage, then the color of her Soul should have affected her magic, and by extension, could have affected her interactions with these...save points.”

“you’re thinking that it might be a mage thing, not a human thing?”

“Possibly, which would also explain why it would have rejected me, if that’s the case. I’m the wrong kind of mage to be trying to interact with it. Again, assuming Frisk was a mage, then she would have been a red mage, and assuming my guess is correct about her magic affecting the save points, it means that I wouldn’t be able to use them, either. Even with two types of magic, since neither of them are the right color, I can’t access the points the way Frisk would have, so I’m in the same boat with you guys.”

“huh…dunno that i would’ve considered that…geez…”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“nothing, just…i’m a fusion of gaster and sans, but i also have my own personality. i’m a separate being entirely.”

“Yeah, kinda gathered that, G. You don’t exactly act like one or the other, and given that I’ve met, ah, a few of each, I think that’s something I’d have noticed by now.”

G blinked, staring at her for a second.

“right. well, since they make up the foundation of who i am, they can respond to you much in the same way i can. it’s just more through feelings i get, and i can always identify who’s who in there. and all this theorizing and shit…really has gaster wound up.”

“Wound up? The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“well, in this universe – before it kind of fell to shit, that is – gaster was the cold and analytical scientist type. lot like handplates, actually. he’d get excited over shit like what we’re talking about. so all the theorizing and your scientist-like approach to the whole thing really triggered a response out of the old man. so talking this through, i’m excited…but i know that’s not me reacting to you. it’s gaster.”

“Whoa. That’s…complicated. And more than a little creepy, not gonna lie,” June grimaced, rubbing the back of her head. G nodded, looking away.

“tell me about it.”

“Right. So, uh…back to what we were talking about. All assumptions and theories aside, there’s really no way to test out any of this, so it’s probably best just to drop it for now.”

G nodded, focusing on her again.

“That, and I have a few questions.”

“shoot.”

“The whole thing with the save points…how does that work, anyway?”

Turning away from the messed up Save point, they walked while G explained the Saves, Loads, and Resets to her. She nodded, the gears of her mind whirring at top speed as she absorbed everything he told her. After he finished explaining, they walked in silence for a bit, June thinking and processing. Finally, she turned to him again, her expression soft and gentle.

“Hey, um…do you mind if I ask something a little tough to answer?”

“mmm…only if i get to ask something personal about you in return.”

“…fair enough,” June answered, sighing at her own hesitation. She hated talking about herself. But it was a reasonable request. After all, there was no telling how long they were going to be stuck together, so they might as well get to know each other better.

“alright, then. so what’s your question?”

“Frisk…what happened to her? Why isn’t she down here with you anymore?”

G noticeably darkened at the question, and as he pulled out his pack of cigarettes and took one out to light, she thought for a second he was just going to ignore the question. Had she accidentally touched a nerve? She hesitated for a second after he lit the cigarette, then opened her mouth to offer to retract the question if he didn’t want to answer.

“i don’t know what happened to frisk,” G finally muttered, cutting her off before she could even get out one word. “we were running out of ideas, and even though frisk couldn’t access the save points and didn’t have a save, we agreed to try to have her reset. just to see if her resetting would fix the universe, or just send us back to square one from after the shift occurred. but when i went to where i found her last time, she wasn’t there. it looked like there was evidence she’d been there, but wasn’t anymore, so i tried looking for her. i tried waiting around for her, to see if she’d show up. but she never did. instead…you.”

“That’s why you thought I might know Frisk. You thought I might know something about where she is or what happened to her. About why I’m here instead of her.”

“yep. but that’s looking less and less likely. so maybe finding the core will shed some light on that, too. who knows?”

June went silent, suddenly feeling guilty. She didn’t know Frisk, had no clue what happened to the girl, or why it seemed that she had somehow replaced Frisk, but she felt guilty all the same. She looked at the ground, wondering why she felt that way. Almost against her better judgment, she opened her mouth again to speak, intending to apologize, even if it was for something as silly as not having the answers he was looking for. But again, he cut her off, not looking in her direction when he spoke.

“my turn. so, the necklace. saw you grab it earlier when you were freaking out over your sister. and i can see that you don’t wear other jewelry. so what’s the story?”

June blinked, partially glad for the distraction. When she looked down and gingerly touched the necklace in question, she couldn’t help the fond smile that graced her lips.

“It’s a gift. May gave it to me when we were younger. Mom was throwing out some pieces of broken jewelry she had when May saw the necklace charm and begged to keep it. Mom let her, and for my birthday that year, she surprised me with it. Hand made the new chain for it and everything. She said the butterflies were to represent the two of us. How they’re always together. How the big one protects the little one, and the little one has the big one’s back. How the big one is stronger than the little one, but would never leave its companion behind. It serves to remind me in times when I really need it that I always have a piece of her with me to hold on to. She’ll always be here, even when the physical distance seems insurmountable. I rarely take it off,” she added softly, rubbing a thumb over the two silver butterflies. “I usually end up holding it when I have an attack like that. Not sure if it helps, but I like to think it does. Even just a little.”

Worry overpowered everything else, and the smile fell into a distant and concerned frown.

“God I hope she’s okay…” she murmured, more to herself than to G. She gripped the necklace tighter and sighed, her steps slowing again. There was no indication she would stop walking, but it was clear whatever train of thought was going through her head wasn’t a good one.

“you said her Soul is half purple, right? that means she’s tough. literally the second most stubborn type of Soul there is, the first being red. whatever gets thrown her way, i’m sure she can handle it. perseverance is next to impossible to keep down. i’m sure she’ll be alright.”

June looked up, but not very reassured by his words. Still, she took a deep breath and nodded, picking up the pace again. Now she moved with purpose, clearly focused with single-minded determination on her goal. True, she wasn’t a red Soul – she had admitted as much – but one thing was obvious: when she set her mind to something, you got the fuck out of her way. She was a force of nature, not to be reckoned with. G shuddered at the thought of anything that should try to stop her now. Then came up with an idea to help distract her from whatever dark place her mind had reached.

“hey. you know how i mentioned shit like the ice walls in the ruins, and the warm snow in snowdin?”

“Yeah?” she replied, barely glancing in his direction as she kept walking. “What about it?”

“i haven’t even gotten to show you the best part.”

June finally turned her head towards him completely, her gaze curious. At the same time, however, she also looked like she was weighing the idea of stopping for what he wanted to show her versus just walking on and trying to find the Core. Finally she pressed her blood-red lips into a line and sighed through her nose.

“How long will it take? Are we far from it?”

G grinned. At least she was bothering to give it consideration. That was a good sign.

“we’re actually really close. it’s in waterfall. and it’ll take a minute, if that.”

Her lips remained pursed as she thought about it. Then she stopped walking and sighed again, folding her arms across her chest.

“Alright, fine,” she relented, “Which way?”

“heh heh. you won’t regret this. come on, this way.”

June bit back the snide and rather threatening comment that came to mind, following him in a brooding silence. When they got there, she was surprised to see that much of the formations of Waterfall were the same as she remembered – but rather than water flowing everywhere…

She leaned over one small ledge as they passed it and almost instantly backed away again. The bright glow of lava was overpowering the soft light of the crystals embedded in the walls, and she glanced at G nervously.

“There’s _lava_ in _Waterfall?_ ”

He turned to throw a Cheshire grin over his shoulder at her, finally strolling to a stop before actually facing her.

“yep. pretty freaky, huh? and that’s not even the best part.”

June gave him an incredulous look when he crouched close to a particularly high lava flow.

“G, whatever you have planned, _don’t._ I shouldn’t need to tell you how dangerous it is to be that close to live magma like that. Especially as close to the edge as you are. Seriously, G,” she continued as he inched closer to the edge, her voice shooting up a bit in pitch. “You should get back before you’re roasted alive!”

“i’ll be fine,” he replied nonchalantly, waving his hand at her dismissively. “as long as i don’t fall in, everything’s fine.”

June scowled at him and opened her mouth to argue more, but gasped as his foot slipped off the ledge, darting forward to try and catch him before he fell. But she wasn’t quick enough, and the lanky skeleton went face first into the lava.

_“G!”_

He surfaced again, yelling. June leapt to the edge and crouched, reaching for him. Then he did the most unexpected thing. He started laughing. June froze where she was, her arm retracting some in surprise. Then, still laughing, he grinned in her direction and wheezed, “stars above, i got you good!”

The tattooed teen stared at him from her perch on the ledge, dumbstruck. The single coherent thought running through her mind was along the lines of “What the hell?”

“ah, man! can’t believe you fell for that. the lava doesn’t actually hurt. it’s cold. tested it out before, so i already knew.”

June just continued to stare as he talked. When he finally looked at her again, a little confused by her silence, he could see that something was wrong. The look on her face was blank and unreadable – more unreadable than usual, anyway. His amusement vanished as he looked her over.

“uh, june? hello? you alive in there?”

Suddenly, her whole body language changed. She ducked her head and tensed up, trembling where she sat, jaw clenched and knuckles white. G started to wade over…until he saw the flames on the backs of her hands glowing brightly. She had mentioned her tattoos glowed when she was using her powers. But what did she need fire for right now?

Just as suddenly as this started, real flames erupted from the ones inked onto her hands, and they instantly spread all the way up to her shoulders. Concern flashed through G – just before she roared and swiped one hand through the air angrily, sending a wave of lava crashing over him. It didn’t hurt – more like being dunked in the ocean by a cresting wave, really – but it did catch him off guard. When he surfaced again, she was storming off, the fire still licking the air around her.

"Ujkv," _(Shit.)_ G swore darkly, climbing out of the lava pool. He knew this had gone over poorly with Frisk, but he thought June might take it differently. Evidently not. And now she was pissed, enough that she had used her powers to throw the lava over his head (how she managed _that_ , he was going to have to figure out later), and probably not paying attention to where she was going. If he left her to her own devices to cool off, she’d likely get lost, and that wouldn’t do either of them any good.

“june, wait!” he called, trotting to catch up to her. He slowed when he got close, mostly due to the heat of the flames still surrounding her arms. Her steps didn’t even falter when he called to her, and seeing as he couldn’t even get close to her (how hot had she said she could burn again?), he opted to just follow her at the closest distance he could manage without getting burned.

“look, i’ll admit, that probably wasn’t my brightest idea. it didn’t go over well the last time, and…i really don’t know what made me think it might do better this time around. but i honestly didn’t mean to upset you this much.”

“ _Upset?_ ” she finally barked, whirling on him, flames climbing even higher, both in height and temperature. “You pull a stunt like that and you think I’m just _upset?_ I’m fucking _furious!_ Do you have _any_ idea how _freaked out_ I was? I thought you were gonna _die_ , asshole! That kind of prank is never okay, no matter who you pull it on! And the _least_ you could have done was made it more obvious that there really wasn’t any reason for me to be worried! God, I really can’t fucking believe you. Fuck you, man. That was _not_ okay.”

G shrank into his hoodie under her onslaught, having to physically backpedal so not to get scorched when she turned so abruptly. Yup, it was confirmed. You didn’t piss her off, for any reason. Left unchecked, her wrath could be devastating. Which was why he continued to follow her once she turned on her heel again with a huff and started stalking off again.

“would it help if i actually apologized?”

From the almost animalistic growl June tossed over her shoulder at him, he took that as a no.

“right. well, there is something else i can show you, and it’s much better than the lava. no tricks this time, i swear. i wouldn’t want you more pissed than you already are.”

June grunted in response, continuing to walk. But eventually, the fire on her arms steadily died down as her anger evidently dissipated, and her steps slowed, allowing him to catch up to her. He stayed well behind her and out of arm’s reach, however, should her mood turn again. Finally, she sighed and stopped altogether, peeking at him out of her peripheral vision.

“You swear? No more shit like that?”

“you have my word. consider this an offer of peace.”

“An olive branch?”

“what?”

“Never mind,” June sighed, fully turning to face him, arms across her chest. She then gestured for him to take the lead, and he gladly did. It took longer to reach than Waterfall, but when they got there and he coaxed her onto the steam vent, it was worth it. Her eyes lit up and a huge, childish grin stretched across her face.

There was a reason one of her most used powers was her wings for flight. For her, it was the ultimate form of freedom. No one could tell her what to do, where to go…no one would try to control her or limit her or use her if she could just fly away. And flying was a very freeing feeling. The wind in her hair, the sense of power behind her beating wings, her mind occupied by the intricacies of controlled and sustained flight of a body her weight and size…not to mention the view from so high up – seeing the sky stretching on all around as far as the eye could see, the rest of the world and its problems far below…there was nothing like it. And in the Underground, she had rarely gotten the chance to stretch her wings. And maybe doing so while standing over – no, hovering inside – a steam vent strong enough to keep her suspended in the air without aid was a bad idea, but if this was as close to that feeling of flight and freedom she hadn’t realized she so sorely missed as she could get, she would take it.

When G disappeared for a bit, leaving her floating in the steam alone, she didn’t notice. But when he came back she did, but only because he dumped flowers into the vent, adding, “flower delivery,” with a sweet smile. She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled  forth, flipping in the air and showing him various tricks as the petals swirled around her.

June was actually a little disappointed when she got down from the vent, but she didn’t regret the detour. Sure, she now had a windblown, flower-remains mess to tame with her hairbrush later, but the time suspended in the steam vent was exactly what she’d needed. For the first time since the whole mess started, she actually felt refreshed.

“you certainly look like you had fun.”

“Yep. You could say that really _blew me away._ ”

G stopped and stared at her, then started cracking up.

“heh, good one,” he finally answered, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye socket. “but seriously, you seem a lot better.”

“Well, my mood has definitely improved. I wouldn’t say you’re totally forgiven for that little stunt yet…but this was a big step in the right direction. Keep it up and you might actually get back into my good graces,” she smirked, giving his arm a playful swat as she walked past him. She then turned to focus her attention on her bag, digging for her hairbrush, oblivious to the golden blush or goofy smile on G’s face as he stared at her. It wasn’t until she exclaimed in triumph when she found the brush that he snapped out of his trance again, shaking the clouds from his head and catching up to her.

At this rate, it was going to be a long journey. But it was starting to look like neither one would mind very much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, it feels good to post again. I really missed this! Hopefully I won't be gone much longer from my other stories. But anyway, I'm officially back, and you'll be seeing updates on Fridays like they were originally supposed to be. See you guys Friday for more! -S


	38. Don't Forget

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ** _POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!_** There are mentions of blood in this chapter, and while it's important to the plot (and there's not much of it), please don't trigger yourselves trying to read it, guys! This time around, I'm gonna fence off what I can with the exclamation points and leave a summary of the sections in the end notes. -S

May blinked, shaking off her powerful emotions to focus on Sans, who was standing in front of her and staring. The way he blinked and stared at her, like he was in absolute shock…she hadn’t said anything _that_ spectacular in her little speech, had she?

“What? Was it something I…said…?” May trailed off, a sudden wave of déjà vu hitting her as the words fell from her lips. She frowned and scowled. Oh, this was worse than when she struggled to remember her dream conversation with Gaster! She could sense something was off, and there was some big part of this she was missing, but she hadn’t the faintest idea what it was! Only that it had to do with her and the kid. Chara, her mind supplied helpfully. Wait, Chara? Where had she gotten that from? It wasn’t until Sans spoke that May was drawn out of her thoughts again.

“oh…shit, may…kiddo…” Tears pooled in the corners of his sockets, and his voice was thick with emotion. Had she really said something that affected him that much?

“Hey, hey…what’s wrong? Why are you –” As she stood and moved to comfort him, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, cutting her off by knocking the wind out of her. “E-easy there, Sans. I’m still pretty tired and sore from all the running I did to get here before they did. Maybe not quite so tight?”

“sorry, kiddo. i just…i’m so glad to see it worked.”

“What worked?” May asked blankly. Sans finally let go of her, his expression surprised as he wiped away the remaining tears in his eyes.

“wait…do you…not remember?”

May just looked more confused, looking away and searching her brain. Was there something she should be remembering? She knew it felt like something was off! But what was it? Gaster’s words floated through her mind about Sans being the one exception to the rules for the Saves, Loads, and Resets. It was easy then to deduce that something happened, something to do with the kid ( _Chara_ , a little voice whispered from the back of her mind), but…then it clicked. She might not have met Chara yet, but given the kid’s powers, it was possible they had been introduced before, and then the timeline had been reversed back to before it happened. And since they were still in the golden hall in the Underground, it was a safe guess that she hadn’t been successful in convincing the child to Reset.

“I guess not. But from the feeling of déjà vu I had a minute ago, coupled with your reaction to me, and the fact that every time I think of the other kid now, the name Chara pops to mind…there was a Load, wasn’t there?”

Sans nodded grimly the white lights that served for his eyes dimming, then brightening again as she spoke.

“figured that from those few clues, huh? you’re pretty da-arn sharp for a kid. then again, you’re almost a teenager, so…”

May blinked. When had she mentioned her age? And the fact he kept trying so hard not to swear in front of her…she couldn’t help a giggle as an afterthought.

“I’m guessing I mentioned my age before the Load, then. And you can swear in front of me. My sister does all the time. It bothers me a little, but that’s ‘cause I don’t really like swearing. But since it’s in her nature to swear like a sailor, we just agreed that as long as I don’t go around repeating her, she could say whatever she wanted in front of me.”

Sans nodded, taking the information. Still, he looked at her curiously, and with no small amount of confusion.

“so you really don’t remember anything? then how is it you know about the saves, loads, and resets if you don’t remember after they’ve happened?”

May screwed up her face in concentration.

“I know about them ‘cause I was told about them. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here and would have no idea what was going on. And as for not remembering anything…I don’t think that it’s that I don’t remember…I mean, I think there’s something there, but…” May’s eyes fluttered open with a sigh, looking up at Sans. “I just can’t reach it in my mind. The same thing happened this morning when I woke up. I knew I had to come here, and it had something to do with you, but for hours, I couldn’t remember what it was that was so important. It wasn’t until I saw dust floating around in my room that I remembered. And I mean like dirt kind of dust. Not monster dust. _Never_ monster dust.”

The little girl visibly shuddered at the thought, and Sans snorted in amusement and shook his head. But May switched gears quickly, a thoughtful look crossing her face as she hummed, tilting her head to the side and staring off into the distance sightlessly.

“you alright, there, kiddo?”

May hummed in response, snapping out of her thoughts.

“Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking…I was having trouble remembering before and accidentally found a trigger to force my memories to return. So I have to wonder is this might be a similar case. If so, what would the trigger be this time?”

Sans arched a brow bone at her, both intrigued by the ravenette’s sudden show of intelligence, and curious himself as to where this was going.

“you said last time it was seeing the dust motes around your room, right? maybe your memory will trigger for something equally as…well, i think you get what i mean.”

May frowned, nodding.

“but i’m also not sure if it’s such a good idea for you to remember in the first place, may. you…i mean, i know you did your best, but…i don’t know that there’s any getting through to chara.”

“What do you mean? I gathered that my plan hadn’t worked, but what…wait. Sans? Why did they Load?”

Sans looked pained, his eyes dimming drastically as he looked away from her.

“they…they wanted to fight you again.”

May felt her blood run cold. Her words had resulted in a fight? That was the exact opposite of what she had intended! But, for Chara to want to Load as a direct result from the fight…

“Again?”

“this time, i’d suggest maybe using your magic a little more, kiddo. whatever you can do would easily trump their red magic when it comes to combat.”

Her eyebrows shot up. Okay, she _knew_ she hadn’t said or done anything to expose her magic up til now. At least, so she thought. During her speech to Sans a minute ago, she had felt a familiar buzz in the core of her being, like when she was using her magic, but she had ignored it since she was more focused on what she was saying. The fact he mentioned it, but didn’t seem to know what she was entirely capable of lead her to believe she hadn’t used it much during her fight with Chara.

“What…what part of my magic did you see, exactly?”

“well, you said you could control both green and purple magic, but you only used your green, for healing. they got you pretty bad, but you healed it like it was nothing.”

May blinked. Just her healing? She glanced down at her left hand, the side her green magic manifested on normally. So she’d been hurt. Then it occurred to her – maybe…it was a bit sick, but just maybe that was what needed to happen.

“Was I bleeding?”

“yeah. it went pretty deep. but you said you were fine. that you’d been hurt worse before.”

May nodded absently, the gears of her mind working quickly. She had a theory running in her mind, and while she didn’t like it, it was probably the only thing that was going to work in the limited time they had. The news of what happened to monsters when they died and the fates of her friends had come as a shock to her when Gaster had told her. It was a point of strong emotion – or trauma, depending on how you wanted to look at it. Either way, she needed something of equal value to trigger her memories to come back. Seeing the dust had brought everything back before. So perhaps seeing blood would do the same thing here. Morbid? Yes. Dark? Definitely. Gross? Undoubtedly. Would it work? She had no idea, but she needed to try.

“whatever you’re thinking, may, it doesn’t look pleasant. wanna share?”

May’s head snapped up, having become withdrawn as her thoughts drew her down their path.

“Uh, yeah, actually. But you’re not gonna like it.”

“had a feeling you were gonna say that. what’s up?”

May quickly explained the idea, stuttering over the end of it.

“come on, kiddo. spit it out. we don’t have all day, here.”

“Well, I-I…” she sighed, then forced the words out before she could second guess them anymore. “I think I might need to see blood for my memories to come back.”

As she said them in a hurry, some of the words blurred together a bit, but as soon as what she’d said hit Sans, he recoiled in absolute horror.

“ _what?_ the fuck, may?”

“I know, I know. I don’t like it either,” she winced, looking away. “But it’s…ugh, I _really_ don’t like it. But there’s a chance it’ll bring back what happened, and that just might give me an advantage against Chara if it does come to another fight.”

“well i sure as shit am not hurtin’ you, kiddo. and i know you’re not gonna hurt yourself to do it. so how’s this gonna work?”

May hesitated, biting her lip. Sans was going to hate this.

“Um…well, I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t mind…um, biting me? Maybe?”

“what?” She didn’t need to see his face to know her request had shocked him so much, his voice was completely deadpan. She rushed to explain herself.

“Well, I kinda know you have these really sharp fangs ‘cause I saw ‘em on another version of you when he was talking, once. And I…didn’t get the chance to ask…‘cause I got distracted and forgot about it, b-but I just now remembered, and…oh, please tell me I’m not making an absolute fool of myself right now.”

Now she was blushing, hiding her face behind her hands in embarrassment. She had just lied to save Sans some degree of mortification as well, but knew she wasn’t a good liar. She _had_ seen the fangs of another Sans when he was talking, that much was true. She had spotted Outer Sans’ a couple days into their space adventure of her freeing the monsters from Error’s spell. The lie was that she hadn’t asked about them. One trait she knew was going to be the death of her one day was her almost insatiable curiosity. So of course she had asked. And Outer had gotten very flustered, then pulled her aside to explain when she wouldn’t drop it. The fangs only ever came out when Sans or Papyrus (or Gaster, she’d later added to herself, discovering this was a skeleton monster thing) felt certain things very strongly. The biggest ones were anger, excitement, pain, and pleasure. When May connected what the last one meant, she quickly made a point to let Outer know she would _not_ be asking about this again, or to anyone else, if she could help it. That had set him at ease, and the subject was dropped.

Except now she was having to revisit the topic. And with a different Sans. And she couldn’t stop her cheeks from burning if she tried. When she finally peeked at him through her fingers, it seemed that he, too, was as red-faced (or, rather, blue – it _was_ Sans, after all) at the mere mention of it.

“uh, well, i…y-you’re…not making a fool of yourself, i can tell you that…but why under the earth would you bring that up?”

“Well, u-um…I was kind of thinking that if you used your fangs to bite me, it would do the least amount of damage to me and still possibly draw blood. I mean, i-if you don’t want to, I can’t make you or anything. I know it’s kind of a lot to ask of you to even do that much. But it might help, so…I have to ask, at least.”

Welp. That was about as smooth as sandpaper. She was fully expecting Sans to deny her request now. But as she’d said, she’d had to at least try asking before resorting to other methods. But as she waited for him to answer, him shifting uncomfortably and letting the silence stretch on longer and longer, she began to wonder if he was actually considering it. When he finally sighed and shuffled a little closer to her, his face getting bluer by the second, there was a spark of hope in her heart.

“can’t believe i’m doin’ this…and you’d better not tell anyone else about this, kid.” He waited for her to confirm that this was a secret between them before he sighed again, raising his hands cautiously, only to hesitate and glance at her again. “where, uh…where do you want me to, uh, bite you, kiddo?”

May blushed again, glancing down at her hands.

“U-um…well, since I need to see it, probably…my arm? Or my wrist? Or my hand? Or heck, even just a finger would probably do, really.”

 

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** _

 

Sans nodded, taking the arm that was closer to him and examining it for the best place. He then lifted her hand to his face, gingerly positioning it just so. A brief moment of concentration…then he opened his mouth, revealing his fangs. May’s eyes unconsciously went wide and her heart quickened to see them. Then he bit her, hard enough to draw blood. She flinched, but didn’t otherwise move until he let her go. He quickly backed away, wiping the blood off his mouth and fangs without thinking twice about it. May retracted her hand and made herself look at the blood beading on the surface of her pale skin.

It was like someone had opened the floodgates in her mind as staring at the blood brought it all back. Her breathing hitched and she paled. Sometimes, she hated being right. Her fingers unconsciously traced where she’d taken the fatal hit, her body only now registering a phantom pain that ought to have been there.

 

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

 

“may? kiddo?”

“I died…oh my god, I _died_ …I thought – I-I…some part of me knew there was a possibility, but I…holy – nope. I won’t swear. Not even now, when it’s probably well called for that I swear. Nope,” she laughed, sounding the littlest bit manic in her laugh. Then her usual giggles turned into almost hysteric laughter. Sans stared at her like she was losing it. And in truth, she kind of was. Wow, she was not handling this well. She’d been brave in the moment, but looking at it now, her instinct was to laugh and giggle like an insane person. Once she finally worked herself past that stage, however, she slowly just slid to the floor, her laughter dying down to just the occasional weak chuckle before going completely silent.

“i tried to tell ya, kiddo. i wasn’t sure if you could handle it. not everyone can deal with dyin’ and comin’ back to life – especially if they can remember it.”

May just stared at the ground (or her hands, it was difficult to tell which) quietly. She was still pale, clearly processing still. Then, in a voice so quiet Sans wasn’t sure if he heard her right, May murmured to herself.

“I wonder if this is what it felt like. I bet it is. Why would she want that? Why would anyone want that? I’ve tried to understand, but now…”

“huh? may, what’re you talkin’ about, kiddo?”

“My sister. She’s…” May shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself. “I shouldn’t talk about it. It’s not my place. Not my story to tell, ya know?”

Sans nodded slowly, not really understanding, but wasn’t going to push if she wasn’t willing to talk about it now. The movement at the end of the hall signaling Chara’s approach meant they were out of time to talk anyway.

“heads up, may. here they come. you still in this, or you gonna let me put an end to it?”

May’s head shot up, her pale blue eyes reflecting nothing but fear back into his eye-lights. But when she turned her head towards Chara’s form, slowly making their way down the hall, something in her seemed to shift. Was she absolutely terrified and wanted nothing more than to crawl somewhere safe and hide? As June would put it, hell fucking yes. But when she looked down the hall at the other child, the fear actually seemed to ease some. Something strong and resolute wormed its way into her gut and strengthened her just enough to swallow thickly and stand again, albeit much less confidently than she had the first time.

“I can do this. I can do this. I can do this! I…I’m not backing down. I can’t run away. I’m…I may not be brave…but I’m not a coward either! I’m not a little kid that can be bullied and pushed around just because someone said move. I can do this, and I’ll be darned if anyone tells me otherwise!” she whispered to herself, growing more determined with each thing she said. There was a fire in her eyes he could only marvel at. Clearly, he had his answer. She was still standing firm in her decision to try and stop Chara’s rampage.

As she’d already said – and he’d seen for himself – she was half perseverance for a reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Section Summary:** Sans bit May on one of her fingers, and like she thought, seeing herself injured again, however slightly, brought back her memories.
> 
> Poor May! This was a bit of a rough one to write, and the next chapter isn't much better. But all good things for plot and character development, so...oh well. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this one as always, and we'll see you next week for more.
> 
> P. S. - This chapter was originally called "Not Forgetting," but I liked how the new title sounded better. -S


	39. What Was That About Appearances Again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So this chapter delves some into June's past through May's eyes, and it's...well, fair warning here, May is basically describing June having severe clinical depression and her sister's past suicide attempts. There's no real detail about her previous attempts, but the mention is there, so if it's a trigger for you... ** _POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!_** However, I'm not fencing it off this time, nor leaving a summary in the end notes because unfortunately, those parts are key to the story and character development, and I'm just not sure how to summarize it in a way better than how May puts it int the chapter. Sorry, guys. If you don't mind or know you can handle that sort of thing, read on! If not, well...maybe have someone read the chapter for you and explain what happens around the depression and suicide attempt mentions. See you guys next week for more. -S

It was starting to look like her second color should have been for determination instead of perseverance, as May tried time and time again to persuade Chara to stop. And time and time again, she failed, dying at the hands of the dust-covered child. But for whatever reason, Chara continued to be unsatisfied by killing the girl, and would Load again and again to test her. Every time, May would have a moment of déjà vu, not remembering what was going on, but the sight of her own blood would always bring back what had happened. Then May would take the time to come to grips with her own death, getting better each time. And with each time Chara approached, she would try something different in combat while talking to the child. And Chara was growing increasingly agitated.

Around the seventh Load and fight, Chara finally seemed to pick up on the fact that May was learning, same as they were. Before initiating combat this time around, they watched their knife glitter in their hand for a moment before looking up at her, highly unamused.

“You know, I really should have noticed sooner. You…you know more than you should. What is it?”

“Sans tried to tell you, Chara. I already know everything. About yours and Frisk’s powers as a mage, the Saving, the Loads, the Resets…and I remember. It takes a minute, but I remember.”

Chara’s eyes went wide with glee.

“Oh, goody! That explains it! No wonder you’re so much more fun to fight than anyone else! I don’t know how you remember, but I’m so glad you do. The boring same old attack patterns are so annoying. Plus, it means you actually, honestly remember all the times I’ve killed you. The others, they weren’t like that. Sure, they’d have a vague and unexplainable feeling of terror from every time I’ve killed them, but it’s not the same as them actually remembering. Hopefully this time will be the last, though!” they added as they lunged, starting the fight.

After the twenty-third Load, Chara had May pinned to a pillar, about to plunge the knife into her chest…when they stopped. Both kids stood there, panting, waiting for Chara to deliver the final blow, but they couldn’t do it. Chara kept the older girl trapped against the pillar, but slowly lowered their knife and just stared at her.

“Why?” they finally whispered, boring their crimson eyes into her icy blues. “Why can’t I feel anything when I kill you?”

“I don’t know, Chara. What do you want to feel?”

“This is _supposed_ to be fun!” they shouted, suddenly stabbing the pillar next to her. She barely so much as flinched at the action while the child continued. “I mean…it…it didn’t start out that way. But after a while, I learned that killing others, hurting them…it was okay. And once I got past my initial misgivings, it started to be fun. And once I realized how fun it was, I just couldn’t stop. I wanted that joy to last forever. So I kept killing. Kept going. Over and over and over and over. Do you know just how many different ways there are to break a person? And all I had to do to try out these new things was Reset or Load. But then…an anomaly happened to the timeline. You.”

May blinked in surprise, then forced herself not to react to the comment about her being an anomaly. Error said it all the time, but now Chara too? But getting the child to open up like this was finally a step in the right direction, so she held her tongue.

“You showed up being all pacifist, and begging me to stop. And really, even with all your power and age, you didn’t fight back. You were so much like that big oaf of a skeleton. I thought you would have been the most fun to kill so far. But you weren’t. At first, I got the initial rush from the fight, but then…nothing. And every time since, it’s been nothing. I don’t…I don’t _feel_ anything. Why is it _you_ are so much different? _You_ who doesn’t even belong here! Why? _Why?_ ”

“Maybe because you knew I was right all along,” she replied softly, not a trace of smugness in her voice. “You said it yourself, Chara. At first, you didn’t like it. You didn’t want to hurt others. I don’t know what made you start, but I do know that you don’t have to do it anymore.”

“ _Yes I do!_ ’ Chara argued, finally stepping back from May, shaking like a leaf. She gave the child a sweet and patient smile, bending a little to look at Chara’s face when she tipped their head back with a gossamer touch against their chin.

“Chara, honey…sweetie, look at me. I promise you that you don’t. And you wanna know how I know?”

“How?”

“Because I have a big sister. Her name is June, and she’s super cool, and really strong, and she has all these awesome powers…she’s a heck of a lot stronger than me. She’s stronger than I could ever be. She’s tall, and beautiful, and powerful, and sassy, and super fun, and loving, and the best sister in the whole world!

“But see, thing is…life hasn’t been very nice to her. And she went through a lot of really hard stuff. People bullied her and called her names and hurt her a lot when we were little. Even back before I can remember. Even our mom wasn’t nice to her. Because of that, she got really sad and angry and lonely. She thought no one cared about her. She thought no one loved her, just because she was different. Special. Like you and me. And when she was about my age, she…she was so sad from thinking no one loved her that she thought the world would be better off without her. She didn’t want to live anymore. So she hurt herself, really bad. But my sister, she’s super freakin’ strong. So even though she tried to hurt herself and stop living four different times, none of them worked. And after that last time, I talked to her and asked her why. When she told me, I made sure she _knew_ that she was wrong. She _was_ loved, she _was_ cared for, even if I was the only person in the whole world who did. And you know what happened after that?”

“What?” Chara asked, the tears falling down their face finally stopping as May held their full attention, enraptured by her story.

“She started getting better. It took a lot of time, and there were a lot of ups and downs. It wasn’t easy. But bit by bit, she got better, until we got to where we are today. She’s still got bad days. She’s still angry and guarded against the rest of the world. She still has trouble sometimes. But she’s still healing. And that’s okay, ‘cause it means that she’s still here. She’s still trying. She’s still fighting against the world that tried and failed to bring her down. And if she can change like that…I know you can, too.”

Chara seemed to struggle with this information, listening to something only they could hear. And they even started responding to it.

“Oh, not you, too. You started all this. This whole mess is your fault! You don’t get to just change your mind.”

May tilted her head gently in confusion before a thought crossed her mind.

“Is that Frisk you’re talking to?”

“Wha-? Oh, uh, yes actually. You should know, I’m not the one who started this. I was only following their lead. And now they want to change their minds and pretend it never happened. That _I’m_ the bad guy in all this. Sure, eventually I took the reins of this show, but it was them who showed me how to do it. Where to start. You need to know that they’re not as innocent as they’d want you to believe.”

“Well, are they sorry?”

“Huh?”

May smiled that same sweet and patient smile, kneeling before Chara.

“I asked if they were sorry.”

“No I _heard_ you, but…what’s that got to do with it?”

“It’s got everything to do with it. Everyone’s sorry for something. Everyone has regrets. Even me. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not totally guiltless. There are lots of times I’ve gotten into trouble with no one to blame but myself. But if I was truly sorry, and I regretted what I’d done, I’d promise not to do it again. And I’d be very careful about never doing that thing again in the future. Like…oh, there’s this one time, before June was old enough to have a place of her own, that I went to her room to ask her something. Honestly, it’s been so long, I forgot what I’d gone to ask her, but that’s not the important part. See, I had this bad habit of not knocking before I’d go into a room with the door closed. So I went to my sister’s room, and didn’t even think twice before opening the door and starting to ask her what I wanted to know. But instead of getting an answer to my question, I got an eyeful of my sister…doing adult stuff…with someone else,” May awkwardly danced around that bit, her face flushing at the memory. “Both she and the other person were super upset, and I was really shocked and had no idea what was going on, and… _god_ , it was such a mess. Anyway, when we talked about it later and she explained what they’d been doing, I knew I only had myself to blame for walking in on them. And because I was really embarrassed about the whole thing, and I was genuinely sorry for what I’d done, I made it a point to always, always, _always_ knock before I entered a room from then on. Do you see what I’m saying?”

Chara blinked as they absorbed the information, then tilted their head at her.

“You…regretted what you’d done and changed your behavior accordingly. What I don’t get is why you didn’t get punished.”

“Oh, trust me. The talk I had with June afterwards was punishment enough. But that’s not the point,” she replied, shaking away the blush on her cheeks. “The point is that even I’ve messed up before. And while most of my mistakes weren’t something…well, like this…at the same time, the same principle applies. After all, if a person truly regrets their actions – and not only are they willing to admit it, but also _do_ something about it – that’s the first step to them changing as a person.”

“But Frisk is the one who started this! They abused their powers, their magic! They can’t do that and go unpunished!”

“I’m not saying they will. Because you _are_ right. They messed up. Big time. But listen to them for second. Do they recognize that what they did was wrong? Are they sorry for it? Like really, honestly, truly regretting it?”

Chara listened for a moment, their annoyance clear on their face.

“They…they say yes. They regret everything. They wish they’d never hurt anyone at all, and they miss everyone. They just want to make things right.”

“And are they willing to take the time and effort to do just that?”

“…yes.”

May’s smile widened into something more cheerful and friendly now, and she tilted her head so that Chara had to look her in the eyes when she spoke next.

“And setting everything to _exactly_ the way it should be is just the punishment they deserve, right?”

“And then some,” Chara answered, their tone steely. May nodded, clearly to placate the child.

“Then when everything’s fixed in the Underground, they’re gonna do everything in their power to break the barrier and make life on the surface as painless as possible for the monsters. They deserve that much, right Frisk?”

“They say yes,” Chara answered after a pause, then rolled their eyes. “Ugh, if I tell her everything you’re saying, we’ll be here all day. You really want to fix things, just like her. She gets it already.”

May giggled sweetly, gently taking hold of the dusty kid’s arms and rubbing soothingly.

“So then, Chara. Do you believe Frisk?”

“No, not really,” they snorted.

“Well I for one think they should get a second chance. After all, they want to fix the mess they helped make. They want to be forgiven. They know that nothing’s gonna be the same after what you two have done. But they also wanna make things right anyway. And that takes a lot of courage. Think of it this way, Chara – this is them owning up to what they did. You want them punished for abusing their power? They will be. But in a way that makes them a better, stronger person for it. You want them to answer for what they’ve done? This is the best it’s gonna get. And there’ll always be at least one person who remembers – which means there’s always going to be at least one person who won’t let them forget. Besides, if it were you in their shoes…if it were you instead of Frisk, wouldn’t you want a second chance? Don’t you think you’d deserve one?”

Chara fell silent, struggling with that. Finally, turned their head so that May couldn’t catch their eye.

“I’m not sure I would. I don’t know that I could ever forgive myself if I were to abuse that power ever again.”

There was the briefest of pauses. Then May wrapped Chara in a hug, startling the kid.

“Then I’ll just have to do it for you. I know you’re going to protest and say you don’t deserve it for making me suffer, for fighting me, for killing me so many times, for hurting all the monsters I’m proud to call my family and taunting me with it, but to tell you the truth? I don’t care. Yeah, I’m not happy it happened, but I’ll get over it. And the three of us, we’re working on a way to fix it. So I don’t want to hear how you don’t deserve to be forgiven. Because you’re wrong. You deserve the same second chance Frisk does. So even if you won’t forgive yourself, _I will_. I forgive you, Chara,” May concluded, looking a very stunned Chara in the eye to drive the sincerity of her words home.

For a second, the kids just stood there, their eyes locked on each other. Then, tears formed and began to cut fresh lines through the dust on Chara’s face, and they let out a strangled sound, trembling from trying to keep their emotions in check. Then they finally dropped the knife they’d been holding the entire time and latched on to the older girl, sobbing into her shoulder as she hugged them back, softly whispering sweet words of comfort and kindness to them.

When the child finally finished crying and blubbering their thanks for her forgiveness, she gingerly wiped the tears and dust off their face as best she could, smiling warmly at them.

“So then. What do you say, Chara? You willing to give Frisk a second chance at this?”

They sniffed, seeming to still need to think on it, then nodded. Then they sucked in a breath and closed their eyes, holding it for a bit as their face shifted from a look of concentration, to one of peace. And when the kid opened their eyes again, warm brown hues locked with May’s icy ones, all traces of crimson gone.

“Frisk?” May tried, surprised by the change in eye color. Her answer was to be tackled by the child, big fat tears falling from their eyes as they sobbed almost hysterically and clung to the girl like a lifeline. When the tears finally stopped, the kid backed up and started gesturing wildly, bewildering the poor ravenette.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, honey. I’m sorry, but…I don’t know sign language. Let me ask this, though. Are you Frisk?”

They nodded, sniffing and sitting as close to her as they dared.

“Okay, then. That’s a start,” she smiled, to have Frisk return a watery one of their own. Then they turned to Sans, still standing off to the side, looking absolutely shell shocked. They had to sign a few times to get his attention, but eventually they did, beckoning him over to translate.

“they say they’re sorry for everything. they’re gonna do exactly as you said, to the letter, and fix everything they and chara did. they’re sorry they couldn’t get control of themselves from chara sooner, or get her to listen to you sooner – wait, _her?_ chara’s a she? you’re right, you’re right. not important right now,” the skeleton conceited when Frisk shot him a look. “they tried to stop her once she took over, but she was too strong for them. and your story about your sister really touched something sensitive with chara, which is part of what got her to finally listen. they’re sorry most of all for even getting started down this road. and they know they owe you big time for everything you’ve done. now they’re just saying thank you over and over…”

May could tell from the look of Frisk’s face that if they had any more tears, they would have been crying again as they wrapped her in another hug, repeating the same sign a few times first for good measure. May cooed sweetly at the emotional child, rubbing their back soothingly as they clung to her.

“It’s okay, Frisk. It’s okay. For both of you. Neither one of you ever has to hurt anyone else ever again. It’s okay…”

When Frisk calmed down again, the two kids stood (seeing as Frisk refused to let go of May). May spoke to both Sans and Frisk, but was looking at Frisk when she started talking.

“It’s been a long day for everyone, huh? I think it’s time we rest for a while before anything else.”

Sans gave her an incredulous look, as her eyes raised to meet his eye lights, but she quickly returned her attention to Frisk with a sweet and maternal smile.

“I need to talk to Sans for a second, okay, sweeties? Why don’t you and Chara go wait at the other end of the hall for us? Maybe make a Save while you wait.”

Frisk nodded, darting off towards the other end of the hall. Only when she was sure Frisk and Chara couldn’t hear them did she turn back to Sans.

“the hell are you doin’ may? i know you came here to correct the timeline, but after all this? givin’ the kids a second chance like that? and on top of that, shouldn’t we be discussing having frisk reset right about now, rather than rest?”

“Look,” she replied shortly, her voice barely above a whisper. “Earlier, I probably would have agreed with you. But I just spent the better part of god-knows-how-long fighting someone who was obviously mentally unstable. A kid younger than myself at that. And not only did I fight them, _I lost_. And _died._ Several times. And when they’d bring me back to repeat the song and dance, I’d have to remember it by seeing my own blood. When I finally, _finally_ get a breakthrough with this kid, it leaves them and…their alternate personality? Who freaking knows…it leaves them both an emotional wreck. And it’s up to me to console them. And on top of all that, _I ran and climbed up a freaking mountain before sprinting through the entire Underground._ I’m exhausted, Sans. And so are they. Yeah, maybe now isn’t an ideal time to take a break, but we all need one. So forgive me if I decide to chill the frick out before I _freaking_ collapse. Okay?”

Okay, yeah, she would be the first to admit that had been a little harsh. But could she really be blamed for being irritable in her state? She really was totally drained, emotionally and physically. And it was going to take some serious effort on her part to stay on her feet long enough to get wherever they ended up staying the night. Assuming it was night. It seemed like it should be night time by now. But short of pulling out her cell phone to check the time (which she was far too lazy to do right now), she had no way of knowing for sure. But it hardly mattered. She and the two kids stuck in one body needed to rest, that much she knew. After all, it couldn’t be good for Frisk or Chara to have used so much of their magic on her. (Again, another thing she had no way of knowing for sure, but she was too tired to really concentrate on the thought.)

Having said her piece, she turned around, plastered a smile on her face, and walked to the other end of the hall, trying not to make her shaking limbs too obvious.

_**\--------------------------------------** _

He hated it, but May had a point. She had walked in not being in top form for all the fighting and commotion that Chara had put her through, and while she’d seemed pretty collected while talking to the two kids stuck in Frisk’s body, Sans could see that she was pretty good at hiding just how tired she really was. And while he didn’t consider it being selfish to want to Reset the timeline right away, he realized he had no idea how that would affect May, Frisk, or Chara at this point in time.

Which is when it dawned on him that Chara had been right about May in calling her an anomaly. Because that’s exactly what she was. She was a glitch in the timeline that had saved them from spiraling past the point of no return. And she was a very powerful glitch at that, being both human, and some special form of mage. Clearly the only negative effects from the Loads were her memories of the Load being suppressed with a highly emotional trigger, so that wasn’t a worry. But she had never been through a Reset – after all, she herself said neither sister wielded that power.

Wait, hadn’t she said that she and her sister were both like this? And that the older girl was stronger than her? That meant that somewhere in the multiverse was another timeline glitch, even more powerful than May, but with the same influence over the timelines as the little girl had. That was a bit of a terrifying thought. The regret of not having checked the message Outer sent out flashed through Sans’ mind. Something told him it had to do with the two girls, and having checked it earlier would have better prepared him for the little ravenette.

Which brought his mind back to his first point. Seeing as she was some sort of living breathing glitch, there was no way of knowing how the Reset was going to affect her. And it worried him a bit to think about. What if the Reset somehow erased her? And if it didn’t (he _really_ hoped it didn’t), there were so many other things that could go wrong. Even if her motives for the breather were different than what he was thinking of, he had to admit she was right. They all did need this break.

He sighed and teleported to catch up to the two kids now strolling together out of the hall and back into the more lived in section of the palace. At this point…what else could go wrong?


	40. Rather Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An alternate title for this chapter was "Singing in the Rain."
> 
> Hey guys! I'm really sorry for late update this week! I got sick and felt like literal death the past couple days. XS But I'm better enough to finally get this chapter churned out, which I gotta say, is one of my favorites by far. Have fun, guys! -S

June was not doing well. While she and G walked, she had been hit several more times with that same intense feeling of loss and something amiss to do with her sister, and each time, it left her worse off. When it’d hit, she’d freeze up with a gasp and a soft whimper, grabbing at her necklace. G would instantly come to her and try to soothe her, and it was increasingly difficult to do so, until it was to the point that he realized the best thing he could do for her was to lead her over to a spot for her to sit down and collect herself. Once she had recovered enough to keep going, she’d hurry forward, her mission reaffirmed in her mind, G falling in step with her. She was now basically a nervous wreck, constantly walking with her arms wrapped around herself and her shoulders hunched, a grim look on her face as she powered forward. There were a few times that G tried to get her to stop walking and rest, but she would refuse each time, stating she was fine. Clearly she wasn’t and it wasn’t until they were nearing a newer room in the Underground that he finally called her out on it.

“june, would you stop? for fuck’s sake! i get it, you’re worried about your sister, but wearing yourself out looking isn’t going to help her or you. you’ve been shaking for the past four hours, and it’s only gotten worse with each time this damned thing hits you. so get a grip on yourself and just take a fucking break. stars above…” G added to himself in a low murmur, rubbing the back of his head. June glared at him harshly, but there was no real venom in her eyes. She just didn’t have the energy for it. She’d been running on low since they left his lab back in Snowdin, and all the walking and emotional rollercoaster-ing she’d done today left her clinging to fumes. She did need to rest, and she knew it, but she was so focused on May…

June finally cast her grumpy gaze to the ground, shuffling her feet a little as she mumbled something.

“what?”

“I can’t rest,” she repeated softly, still barely audible. “Not while I don’t know if she’s okay. But I’ll…I’ll stop. For a bit. But can we go a little further first?”

G rolled his eyes at her.

“this had better not turn into a case of you begging to go just a little farther until you collapse.”

“It won’t. Just to the next chamber. Please, G?”

The lanky skeleton looked hard at her pleading expression…and sighed. He then came up next to her and wrapped an arm around her comfortingly.

“alright, june. just to the next chamber.”

She flashed a faint yet grateful smile as they turned, heading into the next room. With her current state, June wasn’t in any kind of mood to joke around. When it started out, he could get her to relax with a few well-placed puns and jokes, but as it continued, it was harder and harder to get her to open up again. Now if he tried to make a joke, the best he was going to get was an amused hum and an extremely weak and faint smile. He sighed internally, hating that there was nothing he could do to help the poor girl besides make sure she didn’t do something crazy.

Then they entered the next room, and she stopped in her tracks, eyes wide.

_**\-----------------------------------** _

Frisk had agreed with May that it wasn’t a good idea to stay in the palace (mostly for the thought of running into Asgore), so the children were slowly making their way back through the Underground, trying to think of where else they could rest. They purposely avoided the dust in their path, not looking at it or talking about it for the moment. The mood was serious enough without the reminder that they were more or less alone. As they walked through Waterfall, Frisk had asked more about May and her sister, June, with Sans translating for them from behind the pair. Which prompted the thought in May –

“Shoot!” she suddenly cried out, slamming on the brakes. Sans almost ran into her from the sudden stop, and Frisk looked up at her, alarmed from the realization on her face.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think to call June this whole time! God, I can be so single-minded sometimes…stupid, stupid, stupid!” she hissed at herself, fiddling with the watch frantically.

“whoa, hey, there. easy with the self-deprecation, may. you kinda had a lot on your mind. i’m sure she’d understand.”

“Maybe, but I can guarantee you she’s worried out of her mind right now,” the girl answered, glancing over at him before returning her attention to the gadget. “I told you, June is as protective of me as you are of Paps. And we’re just as close. So she’s bound to be freaking out by now. And the only thing I’ve been thinking of was…”

She trailed off with an exasperated sigh at herself, her freckled nose scrunching in concentration.

“Just give me a sec here, guys. This – huh?” she blinked. The static on the screen when her watch tried to connect to her sister, she’d expected. But the static pouring from the speakers, she had not. Confused, she tried to call out to June a couple times, then attempted to reach out to Science in the hopes he would know what was wrong. The static cleared for a second, only for the on-screen image to flicker along with the sound.

“Science? Sans? Gaster? Hello?” she called, but she only briefly saw Science’s face before the device died, the sound cutting off and the screen going dark. Sans looked at her with a mixture of worry and confusion as she blinked in surprise and confusion. Slowly, she paled.

“Oh crap,” she whispered.

“what’s up, kiddo?”

“Oh crap.”

“what?”

“Oh _crap_.”

“may, kiddo, what’s wrong? just saying crap over and over isn’t getting anywhere.”

“I…I didn’t know these things could run out of battery…or charge or whatever it is they run on. Crap. Crap! Now I have no way of communicating with June! Or Science, or any of the others…crappity-crappity-crap-crap!” she hissed, more to herself than either of her companions. If she didn’t look so distressed, they both would have laughed at her silly swear-word replacements.

“hey, it’s alright, kiddo. if ya need to reach one of the other universes, you can use my machine. it’s in my basement. and my place will probably be the best place for you to rest for now. up for heading all the way to snowdin?”

“I…” May bit her lip, controlling her frown. She was so tired, she really wanted to ask if he could just teleport them all there, but she also knew having passengers and going long distances wore him out. So she sighed and nodded, swallowing any protests she had to the long trip. Frisk frowned and signed something to Sans, who rubbed the back of his skull.

“well, i probably could…but it’s not that simple, frisk.”

“What?”

“the kiddo was asking why we couldn’t use one of my shortcuts.”

“Oh. It’s okay, Frisk. I can keep walking. I’m still standing, aren’t I?” she added to their skeptical look. They nodded, but they were still frowning.

“they say you can lean on them if you get tired or need help,” Sans translated as the smaller child took May’s hand and smiled sweetly at her. She returned the smile, squeezing their hand gently.

“Thanks, Frisk. That’s very sweet of you.”

They beamed before turning back to the path, the two walking hand in hand with Sans behind them. When they were crossing through the next room, however, May spotted something that gave her an idea. She pulled Frisk to a stop next to her and pointed to them with a grin.

“Echo Flowers!”

_**\------------------------------------** _

“told you these things grow everywhere. this room didn’t exist before, though, and this is where most of the echo flowers are now.”

June slowly wandered closer to the large expanse of blue glowing plants, an idea taking root in her mind.

“Do they…still behave like they’re supposed to?”

“what, like repeat what they hear? most of ‘em don’t, no. sometimes you’ll find one or two that do, but most of them are silent.”

“Any chance some of these still take messages?”

G looked at her in confusion and mild surprise.

“i suppose, but i can’t be for sure. why?”

“I wanna try. I…I don’t know if she’ll hear me…hell, I’m almost certain she won’t, since she’s not in this universe…but I want to leave her a message.”

It seemed like a silly request, and there was no real reason to humor her, but…they were already there. And it seemed like something that might help her. So when she turned to G to ask if he minded stopping to let her leave her message, he was already leaned against the wall, smoking. Giving her the space she needed. She flashed him a smile before turning back to the flowers.

_**\------------------------------------** _

“you wanna do what?”

“I want to leave her a message. I mean, I have no way of knowing if she’s even in this universe – which, I don’t really think she is, but there’s still a chance, so – anyway, I wanna give her a message with the Echo Flowers. Just in case she _is_ here and she’s looking for me. That way, she’ll know I’m okay.”

“i can understand the sentiment, but…”

“Oh for…just humor me for a minute,” May sighed, walking over to the patch of Echo Flowers she’d spotted. Sans and Frisk stood in the background, watching her quietly. She would probably want space for whatever message she wanted to leave, since it was something personal for the sisters.

_**\------------------------------------** _

As May stood before her patch of Echo Flowers, June sat on her knees in front of the field of them before her. Both girls gave it a minute of thought, June’s mostly spent digging for her music player and headphones. But when they knew what they wanted to do, they both smiled a little, and June hit play on the small electronic, the volume cranked as loud as it would go, so she had the music for the song they had both unconsciously chosen.

Normally, when they sang the song together, they divided up the song into the lyrics that spoke to them the most. But since this wasn’t normal circumstances, both sang the whole song, breaking into tears near the end from the strength of their emotions. When they finished with their messages, their respective companions came to comfort them, all of them not noticing the Echo Flowers beginning to glow. But when the flowers began to produce sound again, all stood shocked.

Because what they heard was not what the girls had recorded into the flowers.

For May, June’s voice poured forth, and for June, May’s did. Both of them singing their song.

“ _We’re a thousand miles from comfort. We have travelled land and sea. But as long as you are with me…there’s no place I’d rather be. I would wait forever. Exulted in the scene. As long as I am with you…my heart continues to beat._ ”

Upon hearing her sister’s voice, a fresh wave of tears rolled down June’s cheeks, relief flooding through her so strongly, G had to basically hold her up.

“ _With every step we take, Kyoto to the Bay, strolling so casually. We’re different and the same, gave you another name, switch up the batteries. If you gave me a chance I would take it. It’s a shot in the dark, but I’ll make it. Know with all of your heart you can’t change me. When I am with you there’s no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. Ooh…_ ”

The shock of hearing June’s voice finally wore off, and May grinned, a big, watery, blissfully happy grin.

“ _We’re staked out on a mission to find our inner peace. Oh, make it everlasting, so nothing’s incomplete._ ”

Finally, the two started to sing along again, adding their voices to the other girl’s in beautiful harmony. Tears flowed freely down both girls’ faces.

“ _With every step we take, Kyoto to the Bay, strolling so casually. We’re different and the same, gave you another name, switch up the batteries. If you gave me a chance I would take it. It’s a shot in the dark, but I’ll make it. Know with all of your heart you can’t change me. When I am with you there’s no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. When I am with you there’s no place I’d rather be._ ”

They powered through the most emotional part, clinging to their companions in sheer joy.

“ _If you gave me a chance I would take it (oh). It’s a shot in the dark but I’ll make it. Know with all of your heart you can’t change me. When I am with you there’s no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. No, no, no, no, no…no place I’d rather be. When I am with you there’s no place I’d rather be._ ”

As both girls fell silent once more, the Echo Flowers continued, playing the last part of each girl’s message.

_**\------------------------------------** _

“I’m looking for you, baby girl. And I’m not gonna stop until I find you. Please…please be safe, kiddo. I love you,” June’s voice whispered through the flowers, gentle and loving, despite how desperate it sounded.

“I will! I will!” May sobbed back, not caring that there was no way her sister could hear her. “I love you, too!”

Sans and Frisk hugged the nearly hysterical girl, guiding her away from the Echo Flowers once they went silent again.

_**\------------------------------------** _

“I miss you, June. And I know you’re worried…but I’m okay. Promise. A-and if you hear this, know that I love you and I’m looking for you. So…so don’t go doing anything stupid or crazy, okay? I want you back in one piece. I miss you. Love you, sis,” May’s message finished, her voice wavering as she’d choked back sobs. June held G’s hand tight as more tears slid down her cheeks, a soft smile gracing her lips.

“Miss you too, baby girl,” she whispered. “I won’t do anything too crazy. Promise. Love you too…”

G wrapped his arms around the teen and led her away from the now silent field of flowers, wondering just how the hell that had happened. But seeing the happy, relieved smile on June’s face…some part of him couldn’t bring himself to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah! Almost forgot. The version of "Rather Be" (originally by Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne) that the girls were singing is actually the [Pentatonix version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPWPa-HMpj8) that I fell in love with. -S


	41. An Error in the Works

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No triggers or Gaster text to warn you guys about this time. But this one definitely isn't as warm and fluffy and nice as the last one...either way, enjoy guys, and see you next week for more! -S

Once May, Frisk, and Sans finally reached Snowdin, Frisk was practically carrying May because she was so tired. It was quickly decided that the three would stay in the skeleton brothers’ house and rest, May needing it more than the other two. She passed out the second her head hit the couch cushions. Upon waking the next morning, she could barely move without flinching from how sore she was, but she made herself sit up with the intent to check on the other two. Doing even that much told her where they were, however – Frisk was curled up against her, having not left her side the whole time. (She had to smile at that. Frisk and Chara both were so attached to her now! It was pretty darn cute.) Sans had opted to curl up on the other side of the couch, his chin resting on his sternum as he snored softly. (She smiled, but winced a little at his position – she had fallen asleep in that position herself so many times, she knew his neck was going to hate him when he woke up.)

Carefully, so not to wake Frisk, May slid off the couch, grimacing and letting air hiss from between her teeth at her aching and screaming body protesting any kind of motion. But once she was successfully standing, she took two silent steps to Sans’ end of the couch and leaned over a little, a hand on his shoulder to gingerly wake him. It took a little bit of shaking and whispering his name to finally rouse the skeleton, but once she did, his head snapped up, eye lights bright and alarmed.

“Easy, Sans. Easy. It’s me, May. It’s okay. You’re safe,” she whispered, rubbing his shoulder comfortingly. The words seemed to sink in rather slowly as he turned his head to look around. When his gaze landed on Frisk, still curled in a little ball in the blanket the two kids had been sharing, he stared at them for a whole minute before he seemed to remember.

“it finally worked. you finally convinced the little – chara,” he corrected at the stern look May gave him, “to stop. and that’s…”

“Frisk,” she finished for him with a nod. “But you and I need to talk. Without the extra set of little ears.”

Sans nodded, getting up and beckoning her towards the kitchen so they could have some privacy without leaving Frisk totally alone. May followed, her gait a little stiff, which didn’t escape Sans’ watchful gaze.

“you okay, there, kiddo? you’re, uh…walking a little funny.”

“It’s my legs,” May sighed, swallowing another grimace. “And my feet. And my everything. I told you, I literally ran here yesterday. I pushed my body to its limit. So all my muscles are really sore right now. Especially in my lower body.”

Sans started to suggest that they could go sit down, but she held up a hand as she verbally cut him off.

“But! But, the more I move around, the better it’ll be in the long run. Trust me, after doing seven, eight years of competitive dance, I know how to deal with sore muscles. Taking it easy is good, but being up and moving is the best thing for me right now. As much as it hurts to do so,” she finished with a wince, shifting her weight. Sans didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway, getting started making coffee.

“want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good. Not really hungry or thirsty right now. Thanks, though. Listen, what I wanted to talk about…I know I owe you an explanation. I still have a lot to tell you that we didn’t have time for while I was fighting Chara. So…where do you want me to start?”

“how about from the beginning?”

May laughed dryly, before giving him a tired smile. “The beginning depends on who you ask. Like, for Science, the beginning would be whenever me and June fell into his universe. For the Gaster from this universe, it’d be from when he caught me during that…weird dream state or whatever it was.”

Sans froze when she mentioned Gaster, but she didn’t notice. When he recovered, he cut off whatever else she was going to say by turning to her, sweat dotting his skull and his usual grin turned into a tight grimace.

“may. how do you know that name?”

She blinked in surprise, her easy smile falling at his reaction.

“Well, I know that name ‘cause I’ve met him. Three times now, to be exact.”

“how? he…gaster was…erased from this plane of existence.”

“Maybe in this universe,” May countered, putting her hands on her hips. “That’s not true for all of them, though. In fact, the two other times I met him, he was the Royal Scientist. And in Science’s, you work with him. Science Gaster was the first one I met, actually. He was really nice. The second Gaster…not so much.”

The way her face pinched when she mentioned that one told Sans not to ask. And he wasn’t going to – he was more concerned with the third time she’d met Gaster.

“you said you’d met my gaster. the one who actually _is_ and _has been_ erased from existence. how?”

“I…I’m not sure, really. But he was the one who sent me here. He told me everything that was going on, and he asked me to help. I would have whether or not he asked, but still. He also told me about you being the one exception to the rule about the Loads and Resets. How you don’t forget. That’s…how I knew about all that.”

“that still doesn’t tell me –”

“Look, I clearly can’t give you the answer you’re looking for, here. But if you let me tell you my story, then you might figure it out on your own. But it’s a long one. Think you’ve got the patience for the whole thing?”

“may…you not only managed to convince _me_ to trust you within a few minutes of meeting you, but you also turned a cold-blooded killer into a friend. if you can do that, i think i can stand to listen to what you have to say, no matter how long or crazy the story. especially if it has anything to do with gaster.”

She smiled softly, then leaned against the counter with a quiet sigh.

“Okay, then. The best place to start is probably before we actually fell into the Underground, then.”

May then proceeded to tell Sans the entire tale of the Skies sisters, from the lost court case to climbing up the side of Mount Ebbot for the second time to come save this universe. Part way through her tale, Frisk woke up and found them still standing in the kitchen, Sans totally absorbed in her story, his coffee all but forgotten. Once the smaller child joined them, May took a break from her story to let Sans get his coffee and for her to check in with them. Both Frisk and Chara were sorry to hear she was hurting, but she smiled and waved it off, explaining it the same way to them as she had to Sans. After all three went and sat the table, she continued her story, carefully glazing over anything she thought Frisk and Chara didn’t need to hear, like the details of the universe with the “mean” Dr. Gaster. When she’d hesitate and glaze over something like that, she’d shoot Sans a meaningful look, as if to say, “I’ll give you the actual details later.” He’d nod, indicating he understood and wanted her to continue, and she did. Once she finally got through the entirety of her story, she ended up getting up and stretching, flinching as she did.

“And that’s when I ran into the hall. Sans, you know the rest. And you know most of the rest, Frisk. Well, I assume you do, through Chara. Is that right? Or am I being really stupid?”

Frisk shook their head and started signing at her again, forgetting she couldn’t understand sign language.

“they say that you’re not being stupid. they could see and hear and remember everything, just the same as chara. they just had no control over their actions as long as chara refused to give up control over their body.”

“Ah. Well, thank you for the clarification. Anyway, I’m gonna try to find something to eat. Or make something, if need be. Frisk?”

Frisk nodded, hopping up to help her. Sans stood, if only to levitate his coffee mug into the sink and make sure they could actually get things down as needed. What he didn’t expect was to see May climbing up the counters to check what was in the cabinets.

“may! what the he-eck are you doing?!”

“Looking for food. What’s it look like?”

“climbing the counters like a crazy person and not being careful,” he retorted, picking her up with his blue magic and gently depositing her onto the ground. Her sharp gasp when she felt his magic wrap around her to pick her up didn’t escape him…but now wasn’t the time to ask, he knew. Instead, he went rummaging around himself before handing her a couple bags called chisps he found.

“that’ll have to do until someone actually makes something. now, you and i still have a couple things to talk about. frisk, kiddo, you mind giving us a minute?”

They nodded once May passed them the other bag of chisps, dashing back out to the living room. Sans then went around the kitchen, preparing to make something and glancing her direction every chance he got.

“so…there were a few of those details you skimmed over for the kiddo. want talk about those first?”

“Sure. What was the first thing I skipped again?”

“handplates. uh, the universe with the ‘mean’ gaster.”

“Oh. Is that what it’s called? Huh. I guess that makes sense, since they had the plates on their hands…anyway, right. That one.”

This time, May didn’t spare him any of the details, speaking softly so her voice wouldn’t carry to Frisk in the other room. There were a couple times Sans froze in what he was doing, or even dropped what he was holding in shock. The Handplates universe had been particularly unkind to them, and there were plenty of times when she wouldn’t meet Sans’ gaze, not out of shame, but refusal to see the pity there. And suddenly, her reaction to his magic made sense. He was pretty sure he’d react the same way if someone tried to strangle him with blue magic. That was really the biggest thing she missed telling him, and there weren’t any other details that she’d purposely skipped over, so once she concluded what had happened to the Handplates Gaster, they both stood in the kitchen in silence.

“geez, kid. no wonder you said my dad was hesitant to ask you for help. you and your sister really have been to hell and back.”

“Yeah. And we’re still not done. Until we can figure out what to do about Error, or a way to stop him from destroying any other universes, our adventure isn’t ending any time soon. I…I’ll admit, though…I’m actually starting to get a little homesick. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love being able to travel like this! Seeing new places and meeting new people has always been a dream of mine! I just…I guess I wish we could catch a break, ya know? Seems like it’s just been one thing after another, and we both just need a chance to relax. No worrying about correcting a messed up universe, no constant looking over our shoulders for Error, no danger and death threats at every turn…June especially deserves a break. She deserves so much more than the hand life’s dealt her, and it just doesn’t seem fair. But hey, I’m just a kid. What do I know about life, or things being fair?”

Sans looked at her sullen expression (one that actually made her much closer to her age, if overshooting it a bit) and walked over, putting a hand on her shoulder in support.

“after all you’ve been through, kid…believe me when i say you know more than you think you do. you’ve lived more in the past few months than most people ever will in their entire lives. so i’d say you know better than most people what all that’s about.”

May gave him a weary, bittersweet smile, sighing heavily.

“Thanks, Sans. Not sure why, but that actually made me feel better.”

“good,” he replied with a soft chuckle, going back over to the oven. “and good timing, too. the quiche is almost done.”

“Oh! So _that’s_ what you’ve been making!”

They both laughed, and Frisk poked their head back in curiously. May opened her arm as an invitation for a hug, which Frisk happily accepted, practically knocking the older girl down with their enthusiasm. Then she remembered what else they needed to talk about and glanced over at Sans, who was serving up the quiche.

“There was something I actually needed to talk to you about. You don’t have to leave, Frisk. It’s just a quick question. Your basement lab…does the machine down there still work?”

“yep. still need to use it? alright,” he added when May nodded that she did, “how about we all eat, then head that way?”

The kids readily agreed, digging into the quiche with enthusiasm. While they ate, Frisk had more questions for May, which Sans translated for her.

“the kiddo says chara wants to know what’s up with the watch, by the way. been curious since we all saw you messing with it yesterday.”

“Oh, this? Well, it was designed to help me and my sister – well, whoever the wearer is, really – to travel from universe to universe. The first couple times me and June travelled, it was on accident. After that, we had these to help us along. They connect back to a universe called Science, where Sans here,” May added with a gesture to the skeleton in question, “is a scientist with his dad, who’s the Royal Scientist instead of Alphys. Not only do they send information back to Science – the Sans there – about our Stats and vitals and stuff, but they also give us our location, and let us talk to him and each other, if we’re separated. Well, that was the idea. For some reason, it’s not working anymore. Which means I can’t talk to my sister, or Science. And I can’t leave this universe. Oh, I almost forgot! There’s another feature. It translates Gaster’s speech for me and June to understand him, since neither of us know sign language. I’ll have to tell them that when I talk to them in a bit…and check to see if they’ve heard from June…and check Error’s location…”

As she rambled on, May’s expression soured, the responsibilities piling up on her shoulders again. When she finally waxed quiet and thoughtful again, it was with an air of concentration. Then her serious gaze turned to Frisk, something having occurred to her.

“Chara can hear me the same way you could, right?”

Frisk nodded, signing again.

“they say chara’s listening.”

“Good. I have a question, then. Chara, yesterday, you called me an anomaly. I’ve only ever had Error call me that, and I thought it was just something he said. But now that I know it’s not something specific to him, I wanna know. Why did you call me that?”

Frisk’s eyes darted around as they listened, waiting a moment before they started to slowly sign out what Chara was saying.

“chara says she called you that because that’s what you are. she’s surprised you didn’t know. and while she realizes it wasn’t a nice thing to say, it was the truth.”

“But what does that mean? How…I don’t understand.”

“chara says…it means you’re an oddity in the timeline. something that can change and influence it in a big way. something that can cause some serious waves if you’re not careful. sometimes, it means an anomaly that wasn’t meant to be there. like how – whoa, wait, what?” Sans interrupted in his translation, looking hard as Frisk. “what…what does that even mean?”

“What?”

“they say that chara said that before this reset, you never existed in this timeline. there was no court case with you and your mom and your sister. you guys don’t even exist in this universe. but that…the h-eck ya talking about, chara?”

Frisk signed some more specifically to Sans.

“no, i did pick up on that much. but it really extends all the way to the surface, too?”

A pause as Frisk listened, then signed.

“What?”

“according to chara, you weren’t supposed to exist in this universe. you aren’t part of this timeline, and you were never supposed to be – but for some reason, you are. your appearance should be destroying the timeline. but in fact, the opposite is happening. you’ve made it so this timeline will survive, maybe even recover from the damage she and frisk caused. she wants to know how you managed to manipulate our universe into accepting you when you don’t even have red magic. and quite frankly, i’m pretty curious myself.”

May gave them both bewildered looks, totally lost.

“I…I honestly don’t know. It’s not something I did consciously. I mean, I fell into the universe, Gaster caught me, we talked, and when he sent me on my way, I woke up in my bed at home. I don’t have an explanation for it. Only, I did notice something strange when I was still on the surface myself…”

“what?”

“Well, I mean…me and June…we’ve been at this for months now. And yet, when I woke up, it was as if none of it had happened. I actually had to activate my magic to convince myself that it wasn’t just a crazy dream. And my mom acted like it was the day after the trial…but thing is, I didn’t wake up in my bed the day after the trial. Not in my universe. In my universe, June and I had already made our escape into the Underground at that point. So it didn’t make any sense to me.”

There was a pause as her words sunk in, Sans looking just as confused as she felt. Then Frisk started signing again.

“chara says that you must be some sort of super glitch, then. because that means you weren’t supposed to be in the underground ever, even in your own universe. you and june were never supposed to happen. somehow, you two took frisk’s place in your universe. but how the…how does that even happen? and how does that work, if the one – or ones, in this case – going through the underground can’t actually manipulate the timeline? she doesn’t know, huh? what’s with the face, kiddo?”

“Did Chara say something that wasn’t very nice?”

Frisk nodded, and Sans laughed at the translation.

“they say chara said that just because she has extensive knowledge about timelines and universes and all this from the void, doesn’t mean she knows everything. and she ended it with an insult to me.”

“Oh. Chara…”

“apparently, she says sorry.”

May sighed, shaking her head and scooping up her plate and Frisk’s in one motion.

“Remind me not to leave you two in a room alone. You both need supervision.”

Sans chuckled, and Frisk just looked at her sheepishly, to which she returned a good-natured smile, scooping Sans’ plate as well.

“I know it’s not your fault, Frisk. I’m not upset with you, sweetie. Really, I’m not upset with anyone. I just want everyone to get along is all. And if that’s not gonna happen…well, I’ll settle for everyone at least acting civil and cooperating peacefully.”

There was a beat of silence as May swept into the kitchen with the plates, climbing up to the sink before Sans could react and hearing a sigh. She glanced over her shoulder and giggled at Sans, washing the dishes and putting them in next to the sink to dry, then carefully dropping back to the ground, drying her hands on her skirt as she walked out. (She’d been wearing the same clothes for…she’d forgotten how long. It was getting really gross. Ugh, she wanted a shower! But first things first.)

“Okay, so! Next thing on the agenda – I need to talk to Science. Sans?”

“right. follow me, kiddos.”

Both May and Frisk nodded, heading out the door with Sans. That is, until he stepped out enough for all three to get outside, then froze.

“oh hell no.”

“What?”

“hello, little abomination.”

“Oh no…”

Error grinned at May from where she stood between Sans and Frisk, both of whom looked extremely alarmed to see the glitched out skeleton. She adjusted her crestfallen expression to something stern and fierce as she stepped from between her companions and stared Error down.

“What do you want, Error? I know you didn’t just pop in to say hello.”

“hmm. you’re surprisingly calm for seeing me. you usually quiver in fear at the sight of me.”

“Fear? I don’t think so. I gave up being afraid of you a while ago. No, what you saw was anger, and to be honest with you, Error, I’m really not even angry anymore. What I am is tired and frustrated. Thanks to you, I have about a million things on my mind right now, and I don’t need one of them to be fighting you. So please, just buzz off for a bit so I can actually get something done, okay?”

Error blinked in surprise, staring at the irritated little girl before busting up laughing.

“wow. color me surprised, kid. you actually grew a backbone. and here i thought the only spine you had was your sister’s. you know, when you hid behind her back,” Error laughed at his own joke, then returned to being serious. “but you’re right about one thing, little anomaly. i’m not here just to talk. i’m here to end you once and for all.”

Despite Error’s words, May didn’t even flinch, but Sans and Frisk both stepped in front of May protectively, Sans’ left eye flaring blue with his magic.

“over our dead bodies, pal.”

Frisk shuddered and sucked in a breath, a creepy grin stretching across their face as their eyes switched from brown to blood red.

“Which can easily be arranged…for you,” Chara spoke instead of Frisk, their hands balled into fists. Error stared at Chara for a second before his glitching got a bit worse, frustration clear on his face.

“what the actual hell is this? you – you were _supposed_ to be _dead! they_ were supposed to kill you! they’re the whole reason i showed up! i thought they couldn’t handle ending you, so i came to do it myself! but here i see you’ve-you’ve-you’ve _befriended them! how?!_ ”

May gave a confident smirk from behind her companions.

“You underestimate the power of a pacifist, Error. There’s always a peaceful, non-violent way to solve a problem if you just try hard enough.”

“really? that’s not what your sister thought when i went to see her.”

“What?” May paled, losing all of her confidence in that one word.

“oh, couldn’t you tell? she’s already dead. hot head finally bit off more than she could chew. can’t say it wasn’t a fun fight, though. but you? heh, dealing with you will be _child’s play._ ”

Chara and Sans both growled at Error as he lifted himself up by his strings, readying for combat.

“like i said, pal… **o v e r  o u r  d e a d  b o d i e s.** ”

“I’ve never gotten to fight an alternate version of Sans before…I wonder how the blood and dust of this one will taste on my blade? Well, not _my_ blade, but…it’ll do!” Chara giggled, pulling a knife out of Frisk’s pocket. Sans glanced over at Chara, then flickered his gaze back to Error with a dark chuckle.

“ya know, kid… this is one time i’m okay with that.”

Chara’s grin stretched even further, and Error started to look very, very nervous, sweat visibly beading on his skull. May was too busy panicking behind Sans and Chara to notice, but Error was actually starting to reconsider this fight. May herself wasn’t well equipped for combat. But Sans and Chara? Another version of himself and a version of the red mage anomaly with control over the timeline he was currently in? As this Sans had already put it – oh hell no. Himself, Error could take. But if it wasn’t Frisk, and he couldn’t take them by surprise, it was highly unlikely that he’d get anywhere with the kid.

“actually…i lied. i’m not here to kill you. yet. just wanted to drop that little bombshell on you and run. have a fun ride on the feels train, kid,” Error called cheerfully before ripping a hold open between them and him and stepping through. It snapped shut before any of the three had time to react, and as Sans let his magic go, he and Chara shared a quick look before turning back to May.

Welp. It suddenly made sense why Error said that, as May was clearly having a full-on freak out over what he said about June. Sans gently took May’s shoulders to draw her attention out of her head while Chara wiped away the girl’s tears.

“hey, hey, hey…what’s with the waterworks, kiddo? you know he was just pulling your leg, right? messing with your head. we all heard your sister’s voice yesterday…somehow…and we all heard that she’s just fine. and she’s worried about you, too. and she wouldn’t want to see you cry, would she? didn’t think so. so come on. dry those pretty eyes. i bet if we can talk to science, he’ll prove your sister’s fine. come on, kiddo.”

May nodded, letting Sans guide her towards the back of the house, Chara taking the girl’s hand in the one not currently occupied by a knife. May gave Chara a watery smile…then the reflection of the light off the blade caught the edge of her vision. She almost stopped walking when she saw it, her eyes going wide in surprise.

“I thought you dropped that in the gold hall!”

“Oh…well, I dropped my dagger in the Hall of Judgement. But this isn’t my dagger.”

May hesitated, then leveled a look at Chara that had them pulling their hand out of hers in surprise, then playing with the handle of the knife while avoiding her eye, like a child being chastised by an adult.

“Chara. Where did you get that knife?” May asked, her tone scarily maternal.

“I…borrowed it from the kitchen.”

“And _why_ did you do that?”

“Well, I convinced Frisk to take it, just in case. Something just felt too…peaceful. And Frisk knows my instincts are better than theirs when it comes to danger. And it was a good thing I had it, too, or that creepy glitchy smiley trash-bag probably would’ve started a fight! One he would have _lost_ ,” Chara ended, an evil gleam in their eye. May scowled, and when Chara spotted the look, they hung their head in shame. “I was only worried about yours and Frisk’s safety…”

“Chara…honey, listen. There’s a saying my sister used a lot when we were on the surface. ‘The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.’ It means that even if you meant well by your actions, there’s always going to be a consequence. The more violent the action, the worse the reaction. I knew that going in to fighting you, Chara. That’s how I knew I wasn’t going to win you over by being stronger than you. If there’s anything to be learned for you and me fighting…it’s that fighting and violence isn’t the answer. It’s _never_ the answer. Even if you’re doing it to protect someone else. Because you never know what the consequences of your actions are going to be until it’s too late to change them. Do you understand?”

Chara looked up at May through their lashes and nodded, hesitating before offering her the blade in their hands. May also hesitated, then shook her head, gingerly pushing the knife back towards them.

“I won’t take it from you, Chara. Clearly you feel safer with it. But more than that, this is a test…for you _and_ Frisk. I’m going to trust you to keep that knife, if only so you can prove you’ve both changed. That sound fair?”

Chara nodded, their eyes wide with wonder and awe at the girl, clutching the blade close. Sans looked at the older child like she was crazy, but shook his head with a sigh and accepted it. She clearly knew what she was doing with Chara and Frisk, so letting her mother them seemed to be the best course of action for now.

As they finally reached the doors of the basement and Sans went to unlock them, Chara returned control to Frisk, who carefully figured out how to tie the knife to a belt loop on their shorts before hugging May and almost knocking her over in joy. The older girl giggled, first at Frisk’s cuteness and affection towards her, then at the lock Sans pulled off the doors, reminded of June and the lock she probably still had in her pocket from their universe. He gave her a strange look for it, to which she answered, “I’ll tell ya later.”

“well, at least you seem to be in better spirits,” he shrugged, leading them down the stairs and into the lab. As he flipped on the lights, it was almost exactly as May remembered it from her own timeline, giving her a sense of déjà vu that she knew wasn’t connected to any Load or Reset.

“so, ya ready to get this over with, kiddo?”

May nodded resolutely, her worry coming back in full force, but only showing in the thin crease between her eyebrows. Sans nodded back, powering up the machine and setting the controls for May. As the brief burst of static cleared, both Sans and Frisk backed away, giving May the space she needed for such a personal call as she stepped up to the machine.


	42. Every Soul Has a Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! So...a lot happens in this chapter. Small mentions of blood early on, as well as mentions and/or depictions of alcoholism, domestic violence, child abuse, bullying, child neglect, depression, and suicide. So, with all that said, **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!_** This chapter is mostly about June's past, and all of those things make an appearance in one way or another, so this chapter (while vital to June's character) is entirely optional! However, since it is such an important chapter to June's character, for those who would be triggered by any of the listed warnings, I'd suggest having someone else read the chapter for you and giving you a summary of the events.
> 
> For those of you who can handle the previously mentioned possible triggers, read on, and I hope you enjoy this one. See you guys next week for more! -S

When June woke up the next day, it was to G shaking her awake, to which she grumbled in sleepy annoyance (a morning person, she was not) and latched onto his arm. She then dragged him down next to her again and curled up, cuddling his arm in her half-awake state.

“Just a little longer…” she slurred. G would have laughed or taken pictures to blackmail and embarrass her with later…if his own face wasn’t burning. He tried to tug out of the tattooed teen’s grip, but she just whined and held him tighter if he moved. After giving up on trying to unglue her from his arm, a thought occurred to him. He smirked as it came to him, leaning over to brush her hair away from her ear before he spoke.

“you’ve gotta get up sooner or later,” he said, his voice low in an attempt to be seductive. “and the sooner, the better…for you.”

Her eyelids fluttered lightly, and a serene smile crept up on her face, but she still didn’t totally rouse. Her words were still a mumbled mess, but it sounded something along the lines of, “Is that so?” He hummed and chuckled.

“and if you’re really good, you just might get a special reward.”

She stilled for a moment, as if to think on it, then just sighed and tucked her head against his sternum rather than his arm.

“Not interested. I like that sound you make,” she added softly after a minute, and G flushed again, trying to guess what she was hearing. It should just be the sound of his magic in his bones, but she was such an oddity, he didn’t want to assume anything. Hoping that’s what she meant, he tried to banish the blush, gently grabbing her chin and tilting her head to look at him, though her eyes were still closed.

“you can listen to it all you want when you get up, sweet thing.”

Now her eyes actually opened, and her dreamy smile turned into a flirtatious smirk as she turned it on him. He briefly wondered if his face could actually catch fire as his brain caught up to his mouth.

“Sweet thing? That’s new.”

G opened his mouth to try and explain, but his mind went blank as she pulled herself almost on top of him and chuckled low in her throat, a dark and rich sound.

“Since when,” she purred slowly in a sultry tone, “did I give you permission to give me pet names?”

There was a moment of thick tension before the sound of someone clearing their throat startled them both, causing June to frown and glance up at the interruption. G turned to look as well, but before he registered what he was looking at, June was rocketing to her feet, an almost feral snarl on her face.

“Error,” she growled, fire in her dark eyes. The dark skeleton grinned down at her from his perch atop a shelf in the cave wall.

“am i interrupting? good.”

“I know you didn’t come here just to talk, ya prick.”

“ever to the point, aren’t you? can’t just let me savor the moment before i try to kill you.”

“Oh, so it’s a beat down you want. Well,” she smirked, something evil glittering in her eyes as cracked her knuckles defiantly, “that can be arranged.”

“hmph. you both think you’re so tough, do you? with him protecting you like that,” Error sneered, “news flash, sister: he’s the only reason you’re alive right now. and i bet he’s the only reason you’ve got any kind of power. anomalies as unstable as you? you need something powerful holding you together. he’s the glue that’s keeping you whole right now, isn’t he?”

“The hell are you talking about, Error?”

“humans really are the densest creatures in all of existence. every timeline. you’re all just so stupid. let me spell it out for you. you. shouldn’t. exist. you _can’t_ exist. the timeline you’re from? it’s so distorted from all the messing around by that other anomaly that the universe itself decided it’d had enough. so it replaced one abomination that could manipulate the timeline with two that couldn’t. what no one counted on was that brat’s curiosity. and now, the only thing holding you both to the multiverse are the remnants of him still clinging to you,” Error gestured vaguely at June, who took the bait and looked down at herself. The only remnants of anything that she could think of were sleep (which was long gone by now), and…

“ _Ink?_ ” June declared, looking back up at Error incredulously. “You think we’re somehow unstable in the multiverse, and Ink’s blood is the only thing keeping us from dying? That’s impossible. He’s dead.”

“is he? is it really impossible? i’ll answer that one for you – no, it’s not. after all…i didn’t see his dust after the end of that fight. did you?”

June blinked, trying to think back…and realized he was right.

“But you used a Gaster Blaster on him! There’s no way he could have survived it as weak as he was!”

“initially, i believed that, too,” Error admitted with a casual shrug. “but the proof came when we fought in the damned kiddie universe. when i touched where his blood still stains you. it never left after that first battle did it? it still clings to you, no matter how many times you change and clean your clothes, no matter how hard you scrub at your skin…it’s still there. because _he’s_ still there. he thinks he can hide with you, you can protect him, and he can keep you alive. but i’ve already proven him wrong. even _he_ can’t save you from death, and when you’re nothing but a smoking crater in the ground, _then_ he’ll be dead. and finally, so will you.”

“Wait, hold up. You…already proved him wrong? What does that mean?”

“oh, couldn’t you tell? i thought the two of you were so close…i already took care of your sister.”

June’s blood ran cold at his words, whispering out a hoarse, “What?”

But she’d just heard May’s voice! She had said she was fine! And the feeling of loss, that sensation of being plunged into an ice bath, hadn’t come back since! There was just no way, she thought. He had to be lying. He had to be! But his perpetual grin widened at the look of horror on her face.

“yep. she’s gone, and so is the trace of ink that stuck to her. and you should know…she was crying out for you the whole time. begging her big strong sister to come save her.”

“Sh-shut up,” June spat, lacking her usual confidence. But Error continued.

“but i threw her into a universe filled with dust. she called for help, but nobody came.”

“Shut up!” the ravenette cried louder, holding her head in her hands and shaking it. She couldn’t believe it, she just couldn’t! He was lying! May couldn’t be dead! She would know, she would _feel_ it!

“ **there was no one there to hear her screams,** ” he finished, nice and slow, his grin the biggest it’d ever been.

“ _Shut up!_ ” June shrieked, her powers and magic flaring up as one in the wake of her raging emotions. As glowing tears ran from her orange-and-blue eyes, she summoned a wall of orange projectiles and launched them all at Error, who teleported out of the way just in time. Her attacks came at lightning speed, using both her powers and her magic to keep him on the run.

G had been waiting for a good time to intervene on June’s behalf with Error, but when the smaller skeleton started playing on June’s fears for her sister, he froze, unsure of what to do. Comfort her? Attack Error? But his choice was made for him when she snapped, and he stood stock still off to one side, watching in mute shock at her continued display of raw power. Really, he was starting to believe it was a matter of when, not if, she would summon a Gaster Blaster of her own, despite not being a version of Gaster or Sans. He still felt the need to help, an instinct to protect her coming from the half of him that was Sans, but he remained where he was, knowing he was doing more good by staying the hell out of her way. And it was becoming painfully clear that Error had bitten off more than he could chew by egging her on, any attacks he sent her way usually getting knocked down before they even got close. Her Soul was skidding around the battle effortlessly, dodging anything she missed taking out with ease as it hummed and shone bright with her energy. And that’s not to say she didn’t take any damage – she was far from unscathed by the whole thing – but she was wearing Error down surprisingly quickly, and he had more damage to him than she did. Even Error’s blasters weren’t a problem for her, simply dodging them or grabbing him with her magic and throwing him around to knock off his aim. When he actually managed to get a solid hit on her and get a break in her attacks, Error quickly opened a rift to somewhere else and jumped through, closing it before she could launch another wave of attacks at him.

June panted lightly and just stood there for a minute, most of her emotions leaving with Error. When she finally seemed to come to her senses, she groaned and fell to her knees, finally letting her swirling blue and orange magic fade, and G rushed to her side. She hadn’t been kidding about her ridiculously high stamina for a human, and with her Soul still exposed, G Checked her Stats almost absentmindedly. It was exactly as she’d said. LV two, AT one hundred, DF fifty, EXP zero, base HP two-thousand. Her current HP was lower than that from the damage she took, but it sent a clear message: don’t fuck with her unless you had a death wish. With Stats that high, it was easy to see why she was so careful and controlled about everything. If she let herself go, like she had just then, almost nothing could withstand her wrath. And she was convinced Error was stronger than her? G suppressed the urge to shiver at the thought of any one being existing with that much power. He didn’t dwell on it long; he had an injured and emotionally compromised human to attend to.

“hey, you alright? stars-fuck, that was a stupid question. of course you’re not.”

She managed a laugh for him as she leaned against him. Then she tried to lean away as a thought occurred to her.

“Shit. Blood. I’m gonna get blood all over you.”

G just held her tighter, watching as her Soul slowly dimmed. It wasn’t a big dramatic change, but it was a cause for concern as it jumped up and sunk into her chest once more. She sighed as the light it gave off faded when it disappeared into her body again.

“don’t care ‘bout the blood. clothes can be replaced. i’m more concerned with the fact that you said you thought error was stronger than you, but you just sent him running with his tail between his legs.”

“Didn’t say I wouldn’t put up a hell of a fight before he got to me,” she replied with a wry smirk. “I’m strong, but my power is mostly meant for widespread destruction. I have a hard time fine tuning the way he or my sister can.”

She paused, wiggling out of his arms after a couple moments with the excuse that she needed to heal. She hesitated to heal in front of him, but she sighed and went through her usual preparations. Mostly surface damage this time; nothing broken, sprained, twisted, cracked, or dislocated. That was good. Lots of blood, unfortunately, but nothing she hadn’t handled before. She sighed again, shedding the torn and bloodied half-jacket and stuffing it in her mouth before straightening her posture. Sucking in a deep breath, she let her power flow, grasping her healing and sending it out.

June let out a soft squeak of shock as she curled up on herself, her whole body going rigid a second later. It was excruciating as always, and if her focus wasn’t on healing, it was on keeping still and silent. Any bruises felt as if someone were applying a constant pressure to them, and all the cuts and gashes left from Error’s string and bone attacks felt like someone was slicing through her with something white-hot. When she was done, she relaxed and released her energy, spitting out the garment in her mouth. G, having not seen her healing before, was highly fascinated by the process, but more concerned with her health and safety.

“shit, june. why didn’t you say your healing was that intense? i could have just gone to find you some monster food or something to heal yourself with!”

She was panting so hard it was causing coughing fits, but when she finally caught her breath enough to actually hear his words, she looked up at him blankly before a look of sudden realization hit her.

“Shit. Fucking hell. I’ve still got some in my bag. Why didn’t I think of that? Fuck.”

“wait. you’ve had some monster food with you this whole time?”

“Yeah, but I totally forgot about it until now. It’s uh…a slice of pie from Toriel. Honestly, I’m not even sure if it’s still good – she gave it to me months ago and I haven’t touched it – which now makes me feel even shittier, geez…”

G interrupted her with a laugh, shaking his head. She frowned at him.

“Hey, I’m being serious here!”

“no, no, i know. that’s the hilarious part. you’ve been wandering alternate realities of the underground for months, and some of the things you still don’t know are funny as hell. monster food doesn’t go bad like human food does. you could probably keep that slice of pie for years and it’d still taste as if she just baked it.”

“Wow, really? Shit, that’s cool. Kinda almost wish human food was like that. Less waste that way. But how…?”

“magic.”

June scoffed, rolling so she could see him better, spotting the ruined half-jacket out of the corner of her eye and frowning at it. She then picked it up and studied it for a bit, sighing darkly, a very familiar worried look crossing her face.

“G?”

“yeah?”

“You think…do you think Error was telling the truth? About my sister?”

“hell no. i think that son-of-a- _glitch_ ,” he paused for effect, letting her smile and chuckle at the pun, “was just saying that to mess with you head. i mean, since you heard her yesterday through the echo flowers, has that feeling come back?”

“No,” June answered honestly, staring down at the article in her hands. “Actually, after the last time that it hit me, I didn’t feel it again until the thing with the flowers. And hearing her voice…it made the last of that feeling go away. I mean, I’m worried that something’s wrong now, but…I don’t feel it like I did before. It’s more of a nagging doubt, like when I know someone else is responsible for her and not me. Ya know what I mean?”

“it’s more of a protective family member-slash-guardian thing,” G nodded in understanding. June smiled a little and bobbed her head in agreement of her own, her fears easing some.

“so how do you feel now?”

“I dunno. Conflicted, maybe? I don’t want to believe him, and in truth, I think a big part of me already knows it’s bullshit, but at the same time…there’s that little whisper of doubt creeping in the back of my mind that won’t leave me alone.”

G hummed in understanding, then decided to switch topics, thinking that if he could distract her enough her worries could be forgotten.

“so hey. it’s been bothering me since last night. how the hell did you do that with the echo flowers?”

“Honestly, dude? Haven’t a fucking clue. I just…I wanted her to hear me so badly…I wanted her to be okay, no matter what…and I wanted her to know how much she means to me. How much I love her. I wanted so badly to believe she was okay, and I’d see her again. Then the Echo Flowers started singing back,” she said with a confused shrug. “I was too happy and relieved to question it. Besides, at this point, if I can’t explain something, I’m starting to take your approach. Just call ‘magic’ and leave it alone.”

“even magic has its rules and limits. and that little trick broke those rules.”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure your entire universe breaks the rules of physics. But again, magic, so fuck it.”

“you’re missing the point. not everything can be explained with magic.”

“Oh yeah? Then I’d like to see you try and explain everything without mentioning magic. Go on. I dare you.”

There was a long pause where G tried to come up with explanations for everything that didn’t involve magic somehow. June smirked after a bit, finally breaking into his thoughts.

“See? Told you.”

“that doesn’t prove anything.”

“Yeah it does! It – you know what?” she sighed, shaking her head. “Never mind. I don’t want to argue this with you.”

With that, she climbed to her feet and offered him a hand up, which he took. They both took a moment to dust off, then she turned and started walking.

“Come on, bone butt. Regardless of anything else, we still have to find the Core.”

G easily fell into step slightly behind her, letting her wander as he studied her from behind.

After a few hours of silent walking, June finally felt in better spirits, and turned back to see G hanging back a bit, stoically staring at her. She smiled to herself, tempted to see if she could catch him with another snowball, but though better of it, instead throwing him a different kind of curveball: one of the silver-tongued variety.

“See something you like back there, tough guy?”

She stopped and turned her head, spotting the gold on his cheekbones before an unrestrained grin stretched across her on face. Oh, he made it too easy! Finally she turned around completely, reining in her smile to something more playful and flirty as she let him catch up to her.

“Wow. Either the view was so good you’re speechless,” – his face burned even more for that comment – “or something’s on your mind. You know you can talk to me, right?”

He seemed to hesitate before sighing and running a hand over his skull.

“just…something error said to you. it’s buggin me.”

“Well, what is it? Maybe it’s something I have the answer to for once.”

“i doubt it. but what the hell?” G shrugged, looking at her seriously. “we both know what he said about your sister is bullshit. but all the talk of anomalies and whether or not you should exist made me wonder if maybe…not everything he said was total bull. i mean, i’m sure every word about your sister was a lie! but everything else…i’m not so sure.”

He was quick to cover when she gave him a harsh look for suggesting anything Error said wasn’t total crap, but she actually gave it consideration. She’d gone through a secret sci-fi phase in late middle school/early high school, so she had an idea of how these things were supposed to work, but…everything was just so complicated around the sisters! And that got her thinking as well.

“I hate to admit it, but you may be right. About Error not being totally full of shit. But I dunno…I don’t feel unstable or glitchy. I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with me. And I know there’s nothing wrong with May. I’d feel it if something were. Case in point, me up until the thing with the flowers. But I couldn’t tell you a damn thing about this third ‘anomaly’ he was talking about. Unless…”

“unless what?”

“Unless that third anomaly, the original one…was Frisk. But from my universe. The way you were talking about her abilities, Frisk is the only one I can think of who could mess with a timeline so much it could warp or distort the way he was talking about. And if it’s true that it’s become that distorted, then that would mean that anyone from that timeline, not just me and May, are as unstable as the timeline itself. The whole thing – and anything connected to it – would be at risk of collapsing if any more strain is put on the timeline. Which would explain so much. If my universe is really so twisted in on itself because of all the timeline fuckery that it forced a major change of events, then…then May and I were never meant to fall into the Underground. We were never meant to meet Toriel, or Sans, or Paps, or Undyne, or Alphys…we were never meant to accidentally use Sans’ machine to warp ourselves out of our own goddamn unstable as hell universe. We were never meant to go to any of the alternate universes, or meet anyone there…or _anything_. All this was never supposed to happen. Frisk was supposed to fall into the Underground and meet everyone, and not disturb any of the other timelines, and do god knows what else. Error’s right. We _are_ anomalies. We…we should be _dead_. How the hell have we survived outside of our own timeline if we’re that unstable? Is it really because of Ink’s blood? How the hell does a skeleton bleed anyway?! _None of this makes any sense!_ ”

“whoa, june…hey, you’re getting yourself worked up again,” G stated, worry etched onto his skull as he gently grabbed her arms and spun her back around to face him. Confusion, anxiety, and fear flashed in her piercing eyes, but the only thing her face actually let on was the anxiety. As he instructed her to do it, she took deep breaths, and the look slowly cleared, her visibly relaxing.

“You’re right. You’re right. This is nothing to freak over. Just, ya know, having an existential crisis, that’s all,” she laughed weakly, running a hand through her midnight hair. G didn’t laugh, however, choosing to instead focus on…her chest? No, most likely her Soul again. (Why the chest, she wondered idly. Why not the stomach or something?)

When G raised his gaze again, it was still serious, but there was a light dusting of gold on his cheeks, and he sighed heavily before actually looking her in the eye.

“there is something we can check on to see how much of that was real and how much was shit. but, uh…it’s…not something i suggest lightly…”

“It’s something to do with my Soul, isn’t it?”

“y-yeah.”

“Well, then let’s do it.”

“wha-” G looked shocked that she agreed so readily.

“I know a little of how important Soul stuff is, but not much. I know it’s a big deal if the Soul is drawn out outside of combat due to intent. And you say this isn’t something you suggest lightly, which tells me it’s either incredibly personal, incredibly intense, incredibly _bad_ , or a situation that could very easily turn into one or all of those things. I…I know we haven’t known each other long, which bothers me for what I’m about to say, but…I trust you, G. Normally, my trust is something that takes a long time or some extremely special circumstances to actually get. But for some reason, I just…I trust you. I know you won’t hurt me. So whatever it is you have to do, go ahead and do it.”

G stared at her for a long minute, then shook his head, as if to clear the clouds from it, and his look turned serious again.

“are you sure about this?”

“Are you?”

“well, truth be told, it’s the only thing i can think of right now. that’s the biggest reason i even suggest this.”

“Mm. What is it you’re suggesting, anyway? You didn’t actually say.”

“ah. r-right. well, uh…the idea is basically for me to take out your Soul and take a look at it. which is normally a big no-no in monster culture, so after this –”

“Don’t go around bragging about it or anything. Especially to monsters. Got it.”

G nodded, looking more uncomfortable with each passing second. June honestly wasn’t sure what to do or say to reassure him, so she kept quiet. Better than making it worse by accidentally saying the wrong thing, right?

“So what exactly do you need me to do? Or is there anything I can do?”

“well, there’s…really nothing for you _to_ do. just stand there and be your beautiful self, sweet thing, and this should go off without a hitch.”

June blinked in surprise and blushed some, about to call him out for calling her by the pet name again, but she was silenced by him gently placing his hand against the valley between her breasts, then pulled it away with a come-hither motion. She suppressed the slight shiver that shot through her as her Soul readily floated free from her chest. And rather than drop to the ground as it usually did, it stayed floating in the air, painting both of them in orange and blue light. G sucked in a quiet breath at the sight of her Soul, just watching the two colors swirl around hypnotically for a bit.

“Told you,” June murmured, causing G’s gaze to flicker back up to her face for a second. The he stared between her and her Soul for a few seconds before shaking his head and focusing on the task at hand.

“do you know what these colors mean?” he asked as he stepped closer, having backed away to give her enough room to be comfortable with her Soul exposed. She nodded.

“Orange for bravery, and blue for integrity.”

“right. just wondering if you knew. okay. well…here goes nothing.”

G then seemed to brace himself and gingerly placed his hands beneath June’s Soul, effectively cupping it, and brought it closer to himself. The effect was immediate.

June couldn’t have stopped the soft gasp that tumbled from her lips if she tried. He was more or less holding her Soul, and she could feel that this was an extremely compromising position. She hated feeling vulnerable, and this was that feeling magnified. But at the same time…her heart raced, the soft glow of her Soul brightening with her apprehension. She could feel it, just below the surface. His magic humming softly in his bones. And good lord, he was powerful! She knew he would be – he was a version of Sans, after all – but it still came as a shock to actually _feel_ it. She began shaking minutely, though from what, she couldn’t say. She wasn’t sure if she liked this. He had the power to end her right then and there if he wanted to. And that thought was terrifying. Why had she agreed to this? Part of her wanted her Soul safely back in her chest, where it belonged, and to just forget the whole thing. But the more rational part of her whispered back at the fear. It was okay. He knew what he was capable of. He knew what he was doing. And she trusted him. Besides, with how he handled her Soul, how he looked at it, like it was the most beautiful and fragile thing he’d ever seen or held…he wasn’t going to hurt her.

G’s head shot up when June gasped, watching her cycle through her thoughts as the intensity of the light her Soul gave off responded to them. When he finally found his voice, it almost cracked when he spoke.

“you okay? wanna stop?”

June shook her head, finally opening her eyes again.

“I-I’m okay. Just…w-wasn’t e-expecting that. I trust you,” she breathed, nodding for him to continue what he was doing. He nodded slowly back, but kept eye contact with her.

“just…say something if at any time it hurts or you wanna stop.”

June nodded again. Only then did G return his focus to her Soul. He looked it over the best he could without touching it or moving it in any way except closer to examine it in places, or trying to change the angle he was seeing it from. After a quiet few minutes, June finally thought she might almost be accustomed to him holding her Soul. Then he sighed, and his gaze flickered between her and the dual colored heart in his hands.

“I take it w-we’re not done yet?” Damn. Still hadn’t quite gotten the tremble out of her voice. Oh well. He looked apologetic as he shook his head, then embarrassed as a gold blush crawled across his cheekbones.

“there’s nothing that i can see that tells me if anything he said was bullshit or not. besides the fact that your Soul is unusually dim and it has two colors, it’s just like any other Soul. which means there’s one other thing i can try. it’s…well, if you thought this was something personal…”

“J-just spit it out, G. What do you need to do?”

“i…i’ll need to touch your Soul.”

“Okay.”

“wow,” G said after a second of staring at her. “you’re extremely calm about that. you have no idea what that means, do you?”

“Well, if that’s anything to go off of…” she retorted with a snort. “But I see what you’re getting at. No, I have n-no idea what the cultural meaning behind it is.”

“geez…alright, well…the fact that we’re even doing this much without so much as being in a relationship is kind of a monster taboo. you don’t let someone hold your Soul unless you absolutely trust them. you said you trust me, but this is a whole ‘nother level of trust that no monster in their right mind would take lightly.”

“Dually noted.”

“but as big a deal as this is, touching each other’s Souls is an even bigger deal, and it’s something you should only do if you’re mated to the person touching your Soul. see, when you touch someone’s Soul, you’re touching the physical manifestation of the very core of their whole being. and the act of touching it is…intense. it shares the thoughts, feelings, and memories of the one whose Soul is being touched with the person doing the touching. and it can be pretty overwhelming when you’re not prepared for it.”

“That…shit. That sounds pretty terrifying, when you put it that way. But-but you’re sure that touching my Soul will help you d-determine if there’s something wrong with it?”

“honestly? no. i’m not sure of anything at this point. everything about you is uncharted territory. but it’s our best bet right now for telling us what we wanna know. still, i’m gonna ask again, because this is the time to say something – are you sure you wanna do this?”

June shivered, both from him still cradling her Soul, and from her thoughts. Everything about her would be laid bare for him to see. All her little quirks, all her secrets, all her insecurities, her fears, her doubts…her nightmares. Her past. She was less worried for herself than she was him. There was so much about her that was the make-you-shit-your-pants-and-quake-in-fear kind of dark that she had hidden and tucked away over the years. She wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle it all. Hell, she wasn’t sure how she handled it herself half the time. So the question came back – did she want him to see all that? Did she want to expose him to the darkest parts of herself? Was she willing to risk it to go looking for something that’d tell them if she was as unstable as Error claimed she was?

Finally, she set her jaw, working herself past her fears and looking him dead in the eye, the light of her Soul piercing the gloom around them brilliantly.

“I have to warn you – what you’re gonna see…it’s not pretty. Not the most gruesome stuff in the world, but I can tell you it’ll sure as shit change how you look at me. But you’ve seen me through this much. So I still trust you, G. I’m not backing out now.”

G stared at her, glancing at her Soul as it flared in his hands, thrumming with the strength of her words. He swallowed thickly, glancing back up at her, his expression bordering on apprehension of his own. (How the hell could he swallow in the first place? He was a skeleton! Oh, wait. That’s right. Magic, so fuck it.)

“shit. you really mean that. okay. well, same thing applies as before. if it hurts at all or you want to stop at any time, say something.”

June nodded, the fire in her dark eyes sparking her Soul to burn even brighter. G looked down at it again and ever so slowly and tentatively raised a hand to one side of her Soul. He hesitated, risking one last glance at her determined expression before steeling himself and brushing his fingers along the edge of her Soul.

Again, the effect was immediate. They both drew in a sharp gasp, and June shook even harder than when G first held it. So _this_ was what he meant by more intense. It was like her own emotions were amplified, but more than that, she could feel so much more – and it was all him. His worry over her and the state of her Soul, his constantly nagging curiosity about her magic and powers, his underlying but undeniable attraction to her…and she suddenly felt very in tune with him. She could swear she felt his magic swirling through her, his power matching her own. For some reason, this relaxed her, and when she raised her eyes to look at him, her doe-eyed expression wasn’t one of fear or pain, but one of tranquil vulnerability. This much peace was something she hadn’t felt in…far, far too long.

G was honestly astounded by what he saw and felt through even the light touch to June’s Soul. At first, her emotions were a bit much to sort through on their own, but given a second to adjust to the contact, they eased to the point he could reach past them. And…stars above, she hadn’t been kidding when she’d said there was a lot that wasn’t pretty. That alone was an extreme understatement. This poor girl had been given a shit hand from the start that only got worse as time went on.

June had been three when her father had come home drunk the first time. That was also the first time he’d beaten her mother in front of her, and she’d been beaten herself when she tried to intervene. By four, she’d been to them so many times, she ended up developing a fear of hospitals, doctors, nurses, ambulances, paramedics…anything to do with the medical profession, really. A few incidents stuck out from the rest – mostly involving being slammed or thrown into various pieces of furniture that broke under her from the force of the impact. At five, her father had taken her in one of his drunken stupors for “father-daughter bonding time”, which ended in her getting her first tattoo – the angel wings on her back, surrounded by the six words in Gaelic. Not long after that, there was a bright spot – her mother announced she was pregnant, and her father stopped drinking and abusing them. When she was six, her baby sister was born, and it was almost as if none of the bad things from before had happened. But before even a year passed, the drunken man she’d already begun disassociating herself with had returned. By the time she was seven, she’d accumulated so many scars, she lost track of the exact number…particularly when many of them overlapped. And once she was older, there were so many occasions that stuck out worse than all the times from her extreme early childhood: the time her father threw her against the living room window so hard, she went through it and ended up in the front lawn, covered in glass; the time he’d thrown her into the television set and she’d gotten stuck. It had taken paramedics so long to get June out of it around all the glass and wires and everything hurting her, she almost didn’t survive. It wasn’t until sometime during this period that she first discovered her powers. After a desperate and heartfelt wish that she could take her family and fly away on the wings tattooed on her back, they’d come to life, and she spent the better part of that day trying to figure out why she magically had angel wings and how to make them go away. From that point on, she started playing and experimenting with her newfound powers between the beatings, rarely ever turning that power on her own father, despite knowing that it could help them.

Then the incident when June was eight. She’d told G about it, but it was so much worse to see it for himself. And stranger still was the lack of emotion connected to the memory of her father’s death. But before he could dwell on it, the next thing was flashing before his eyes. At first, things had seemed to look up after June’s father died. She had happily continued competing in her gymnastic tournaments, she entertained her now safe baby sister, she helped her mother where she could, she continued to hone and train her powers…the dark spots there were the night terrors she began experiencing weeks after the incident. Once the night terrors started, it was all downhill from there. She was bullied by other children for not having a father and behaving differently than the rest of them, having been forced to grow up far too quickly for a child her age. Her mother was hardly ever around, making the girl more or less responsible for raising her sister. Other adults even began discriminating against her, purposely pushing her around. She was kicked off her gymnastics team, something she had been pretty passionate about. And she was struggling to keep her powers a secret from everyone else. June’s mother, already acting suspiciously and treating her differently since the incident with her father, didn’t handle any of her eldest daughters problems well, often dismissing June or neglecting her thoughts and feelings about any of it. Once June’s night terrors gave way to nightmares, things worsened between the mother and daughter, until June found herself in a perpetual state of either bitter resentment or Soul-crushing misery.

It was when she was twelve that her thoughts turned even darker, and she made her first suicide attempt. An overdose of painkillers in her bedroom. When she was found and rushed to the hospital, it was there that she first heard what was actually wrong with her: clinical depression. Suicidal thoughts and tendencies. She ended up looking up what that meant. Knowing what was wrong with her didn’t help, however, as she didn’t end up getting treated for it. Her resentment towards her mother deepened, and it ended up in another attempt not long after she turned thirteen. Again an overdose on painkillers, this time in the bathroom at home with the door locked. Again, she was found and taken to the hospital. Again, she heard those words, with the recommendation that she be treated for her poor mental state. And as expected, her mother ignored the suggestion, and June’s treatment from others continued to get worse and worse. This lead to a third attempt, trying to overdose on painkillers in the bathroom at school. She ended up having to finish out the last few weeks of school there in the hospital, under suicide watch by the hospital staff. After she was cleared to leave, however, her mother still refused to get her treated for her depression. By fourteen, she honestly felt she had nothing to live for, and that the world would have been better off if she wasn’t in it.

Her fourth attempt was actually the worst by far. Locking herself in the bathroom at school again, she took an blade she’d stolen from the school’s art department and slashed her wrists repeatedly, using her powers to numb the pain of the cuts and allow her to cut to a point that she should have bled out before anyone found her. And she almost did. Again, June was taken to the hospital, but this time, something different happened. This time, her little sister managed to break away from their mother and asked why she kept hurting herself. It took some effort, but once June finally spilled everything to the then eight year old child, the little girl gave it some thought before saying something that profoundly changed something in June. From that moment on, June’s entire world revolved around her baby sister, and she took the role of raising the girl much more seriously. With the support of her sister, June managed to get her depression mostly managed all on her own. After getting several tattoos (both for their functionality as powers, and as a way to cover the scars she hated so much), she learned to love herself again (for the most part). She learned to disregard the opinions of others, and where she had once been a broken individual bent on self-destruction, she was stronger than ever. Her nightmares persisted, but after so long of dealing with them, she developed insomnia as a precautionary measure, and used her extra waking hours to her advantage. She taught herself every form of martial arts she could get her hands on. She read every book she thought might be even the slightest bit useful to her in the future, accidentally teaching herself bits about advanced mathematics, strategy, mechanics, anatomy, engineering, electronics, programming, physics, and many more topics. She also ended up picking up her love of art again, and rekindled her passion for the fine arts.

But where there was so much light in her life again from her recovery, there was also much darkness. After graduating high school but just before she turned eighteen, things became so tense between June and her mother that June ended a particular argument by screaming that she was going to fight for custody of her sister. And the second she turned eighteen, she did just that. But even with the odds stacked in her favor for all the personal evidence she had against her mother, June lost the custody battle, and it was the crushing blow from that, coupled with the knowledge that her mother would next attempt to sever all ties the sisters had to each other, that lead the girls to the drastic measures of running away together.

G knew most of the rest of the story from there, June having already told him the sisters’ adventures through the Underground and beyond. But as before, seeing it was another matter entirely. Even so, what struck him the most was everything she hadn’t told him about. Her past was clearly something she hated to talk about, and with good reason, he realized. She had warned him her past was not pleasant, but seeing it, feeling it, _living it_ through her eyes was so much more than he ever could have imagined. When he removed his hand from her Soul and came back to reality, he just stared down at the battered and scarred heart and marveled at it, knowing what each and every mark on it meant now. Finally, he tore his eyes from the beautiful swirl of orange and blue and looked up at her.

June was shaking like a leaf from the intensity of everything, but she was actually the calmest she’d felt in a very long time. When their eyes finally met, she noticed the tears spilling from G’s eyes, and in a swell of affection for the skeleton, she stepped closer and brushed them away. He blinked at the action, surprised, then lifted her Soul and slid it back into its rightful place in her chest, only then using his hands to wipe away the tears she hadn’t noticed she had shed. Gingerly, they both leaned in and rested their foreheads together, just basking in the other’s presence. After a minute of just standing there together, G managed to speak.

“you okay?” he asked, voice rough. June made a small noise of confirmation, then gave a weak chuckle.

“Seems like that _rattled your bones_ as much as it did mine.”

G paused, then started chuckling. Before long, though, he had to break away from her as his laughter built, until he was holding his sides from how hard he was laughing. At that point, June was laughing too, and they both ended up almost falling over from the force of their laughter. Really, the joke wasn’t that funny, and they both knew it. It was just the situation getting the better of them. Of course in a tense and highly emotional moment, one of them would find a way to lighten the mood.

When they both finally caught their breath and stopped laughing, the tears in their eyes were ones of joy. Once the laughter died down, the moment returned to being serious, and June finally voice what was on her mind.

“So…did you…er, could you tell if…?”

“besides residual damage from some of the things you’ve been through, and again it being unusually dim, there’s nothing wrong with your Soul. if it ever was unstable as error claimed, it sure as hell isn’t now.”

“That’s good. So it really doesn’t have anything to do with Ink’s blood. Wait, residual damage? And I heard you mention it being dimmer than it’s supposed to be. What’s that mean?”

“the residual damage is like…scars. on your Soul. i know, not a pretty concept. but some things can wound a person much deeper than any physical damage could ever reach. those things show up as marks on a person’s Soul. sometimes, if the damage is bad enough, it’s not just surface scratches or little dents and nicks. sometimes, it’s much worse – to the point that the Soul appears cracked, or partially shattered. yours is one such case. but your Soul is also one of the special cases that the damage has healed – not perfectly; the damage _is_ still visible, after all – but it’s not in any risk of shattering any time soon.

“as for the dimness, that has a lot to do with your mental state and emotions. so really, that one is subject to change easily. you saw that yourself as we were…doing that whole process. the brightness changed with what you were thinking about and feeling. all the light trick tells me is that your mental state isn’t the same as others’ – but for you, the level of light it gives off seems to be a norm, so i’m not overly concerned. i’d say you’ve got nothing to worry about, sweet thing.”

June blushed lightly at the pet name, G realizing a second too late what he’d said and flushing. He stammered and stumbled over his words, trying to backpedal, but June just fixed him with a playful smirk.

“If you’re going to insist on a pet name, at least make it a good one, doofus. Calling me sweet thing makes you sound like a creep.”

G was stunned into silence, cheekbones still bright gold. She giggled lightly, then came over and pecked him on the cheek, pulling away with a blush of her own.

“By the way…the challenge to make me as flustered as you still stands. Good luck, bone boy. Now come on. We’ve got a Core to find.”

With that, she set off again, her pace brisk. It took G several seconds to recover enough to catch up to her, sliding his hand into hers as they walked. And she happily let him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. I would have mentioned or tagged June's phobia before this chapter was posted, but I wasn't able to find the name for it as a whole myself. However, with the help of commenter [9DifferentTypesOfCrazy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/9DifferentTypesOfCrazy/pseuds/9DifferentTypesOfCrazy), we do know what the different parts of her phobia are called!
> 
> "Iatrophobia is the fear of doctors, Nosocomephobia is the fear of hospitals, Nosokomphobia is the fear of nurses and paramedics, and Jiuhuphobia is a fear of ambulances."
> 
> So thank you for your help, dear! -S


	43. Checking In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm super sorry for the missed update last week and late update this week! I procrastinated real hard last week and didn't end up getting to updating, and...well, life happened this week. >.<"" But I'm here, I'm back, and I've got a double update coming at your face!
> 
> Now, this chapter has some Gaster speak, so it'll be in the usual ROT2 cipher with translations in the end notes. However, no trigger warnings this time, so...yeah! Read away! -S

May looked up at the screen apprehensively at first, but her apprehension gave way to confusion when it showed no one around. (Not that this was an uncommon sight – how many times had the sisters had to get someone’s attention from whatever else they were doing around the lab?) So, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder at Sans and Frisk behind her, she sucked in a deep breath before calling out.

“Science? Gaster?” (She tried not to wince at herself. She hoped she didn’t sound as scared as she thought she did.)

When she got no response, she tried again a second later, with similar results. Sans stepped up behind her, frowning.

“looks like maybe no one’s around. guess we caught ‘em at an off time.” Sans started to reach for the controls, intending to switch it off and suggest they try again a little later.

“Wait!” May called, grabbing his hands as she heard something from off screen.

“…i’m really getting a bad feeling now, dad. we’ve only heard from one of them this whole – whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. look.”

There was a brief pause, then two sets of footsteps rushing over to the machine. A split second later, a wide-eyed Science and Gaster slid on screen, a fearful hope shining in their eyes. May couldn’t help the broad grin of relief that swept across her face at the sight of the two skeletons.

“Science, Gaster! Oh, it’s so good to see you!”

“may! i – oh thank the stars above! i – we – ”

"Yg dqvj uggo vq dg c nkvvng urggejnguu tkijv pqy. Dwv kv ku cp koogpug tgnkgh vq ugg aqw cickp, oa fgct," Gaster laughed, interrupting the smaller skeleton, who just nodded excitedly in agreement. May hesitated before tilting her head to one side.

“I…hate to be the bearer of bad news, guys, but…I can’t understand what Gaster just said. Sorry,” she added with a guilty little look. “Somewhere between…what was it, universe…two-oh-four, I think? The one with the kids? Somewhere between there, the Anti-Void, and wherever I am now, my watch stopped working. I couldn’t get ahold of you when I tried using it yesterday, and I couldn’t get through to June, either. I’m kind of worried.”

“and we know more or less what happened,” Science replied, his expression turning serious. “we already spoke to june. she reached out to us as the first thing she did upon waking in the universe she’s stranded in.”

“Sounds like her. Always thinking ahead. How long ago was that? Do you know where she is? How she’s doing?”

"Yg ncuv urqmg vq jgt c eqwrng fcau ciq, K dgnkgxg. Jgt fgxkeg ku wphqtvwpcvgna wptgurqpukxg tkijv pqy cu ygnn, uq yg jcxg pq kfgc yjgtg gkvjgt qh aqw ctg, qt vjg ewttgpv uvcvg qh aqwt Uvcvu, xkvcnu... dwv yjgp yg urqmg vq jgt, ujg uckf ujg'f jcf c tcvjgt tqwij ncpfkpi kp vjg wpkxgtug ujg ku kp. Dwv ujg ycu cnkxg cpf ygnn, cndgkv tcvjgt eqpegtpgf hqt aqwt uchgva cpf yjgtgcdqwvu cu ygnn. Cu pgkvjgt qh aqwt fgxkegu jcxg eqog dcem qpnkpg ukpeg yg urqmg vq jgt, kv ecp qpna dg eqpenwfgf ujg jcu pqv agv dggp cdng vq tgcevkxcvg jgtu."

May blinked in blank confusion, then frowned.

“Um, I’m gonna need a translation on that. And from what you said earlier. I didn’t mean to ignore what you said, Gaster, I just…”

"Kv'u hkpg, fgct. Wpvkn aqwt fgxkeg ku dcem wr cpf twppkpi, kv ecp'v dg jgnrgf."

Science translated that bit first, then the longer bit of what Gaster had said explaining about June, ending it with what he’d said earlier. May smiled at the translation at the end.

“Like I said, it’s good to see you guys, too. And it’s probably for the best that you couldn’t see what was going on with me. Things got…” she said slowly, searching for the right words, “dicey there for a while. And apparently, I lost some time while I’ve been here. But it’s fine. Things are just…really complicated right now. But you said you know what happened to the watches? What’s wrong with them?”

“well, from what we gathered from june’s account of things, it’s either internal damage to the actual device, or a short circuit that left it without power. the first thing to do about it is to try powering your device back up, just to make sure that’s not the issue.”

“Okay. I take it it’s not as simple as plugging it into a wall or something to charge.”

“well, you could do that, but it’d take far too long to charge that way. unless you’ve got a working scale model of the core handy you can plug it in to, your best bet is going straight to the core itself and powering it back up there.”

“Why?”

"Dgecwug vjg Eqtg - qt c yqtmkpi uecng oqfgn - ctg vjg qpna vjkpiu rqygthwn gpqwij vq dcncpeg vjg gngevtkecn cpf ocikecn ejctigu pggfgf vq rqygt vjg fgxkeg. Cpavjkpi gnug ku oqtg nkmg vtakpi vq nkijv vjg gpvktg Wpfgtitqwpf ykvj c ukping ecpfng."

“Oh. Wow. These things take more power than it seems, then.”

Science and Gaster both nodded, Science’s gaze flickering over to Sans for a second, who was still standing next to May.

“so, uh…what’s that version of me like?”

“Hmm? Oh, um…would you rather…?” she asked, turning to Sans. He scratched the back of his skull, looking at a bit of a loss himself, and shrugged before turning back to the monitor.

“sorry, science. but, uh…anything i tell you could be spoilers for your timeline, since you’re kind of a younger version of me, and no one knows where your timeline is going to end up. so…the only thing i can tell you is that we’re pretty d-arn good at taking care of kids. apparently.”

May giggled, giving him a supportive pat on the back.

“And really bad at trying not to swear in front of said kids.”

“hey, you’re the one who said it was fine to swear in front of you.”

“Doesn’t mean you suck at not swearing any less.”

Sans made a grumpy noise at that, causing her to laugh more, Science and Gaster smiling as well.

“So anyway…what made you ask? Besides simple curiosity, of course.”

“oh, well, uh…the, uh, version with june seems to be some sort of taller version of me that calls himself g and looks like some cool casanova bad boy type,” Science replied, a grimace replacing his usual grin. Sans chuckled and nodded.

“sounds like she’s in echo, then.”

“echo?”

“’s a universe where echo flowers grow everywhere, and the rest of the underground was…wiped out, or erased, or stars knows what. g isn’t clear on that. not sure he knows himself. either way, he’s the only one down there. in that timeline, sans and gaster are fused into one monster. g. hence the nickname and some of the look. still not sure where he got the rest of it, though.”

“Oh…gee, that sounds kinda lonely. He must be pretty glad for the company. I hope June’s being nice to him.”

Science smiled fondly at the little girl and sighed.

“how is it you’re so cute and sweet, may? worrying about the wellbeing of someone you haven’t even met…”

May blushed at the compliment and shuffled her feet awkwardly, smiling the whole time.

“I…don’t really have an answer for that. It’s just what I do,” she shrugged. “Anyway, we should get back on topic. So what caused the short circuit-slash-possible damage?”

"Ceeqtfkpi vq yjcv Lwpg vqnf wu, yg dgnkgxg kv jcf vq fq ykvj vjg vyq qh aqw dtgcmkpi vjg dcttkgt kp wpkxgtug vyq-bgtq-hqwt. Vjg tguwnvkpi ocikecn ujqemycxg vjcv mpqemgf aqw dqvj qwv yqwnf jcxg chhgevgf vjg fgxkegu, vjwu yja aqw dqvj yqmg wr kp Gttqt'u urgekcn ugevkqp qh vjg Cpvk-Xqkf. Yjgp kv jkv aqw, vjg ujqemycxg yqwnf jcxg ecwugf vjg ujqtv ektewkv qt fcocig cpf hqtegf c lwor."

She nodded, processing the information.

“So in order to contact June, I’ll have to try charging up the watch first, then check it for damage. Wait, why can’t I just check for damage first?”

“unfortunately, may, it’s not as simple as opening up a panel on the back or something. some of the components aren’t even visible until they’re active, and they require a magical charge to get them going. that’s part of why it needs to have a charge before you check it for damage.”

“Oh. Well, drat. I guess that makes sense,” she frowned, chewing on the inside of her lip in thought.

“it’s not a problem, is it?”

“No, not really. Just…there’s something else that needs to be taken care of as well, and the longer I’m here, the longer it’ll take to get that done. That’s all.”

“oh. that…makes no sense,” Science replied, looking rather confused by the girl’s vague answer. Sans shrugged beside her.

“again, science: spoilers. if she clarifies…timeline paradoxes and junk. stuff no one wants to deal with.”

“ah. fair enough, then. we won’t ask.”

May sighed with a frown, crossing her arms in front of herself.

“Guys? I have another question. So, a couple minutes ago, Error came for a surprise visit. But he left without actually doing anything. Do you have a lock on where he is now?”

Science and Gaster both started clicking buttons and flipping switches until their focus went back to the May.

“he’s – oh, wait…okay, he just switched universes. he was in universe one-twenty-four, but now he’s in twenty-seven.”

“wait, one-twenty-four – that’s echo. he was just visiting your sister, may. had to be!”

“and it looks like she gave him hell, from how badly banged up he is. atta girl, june!”

“There’s a chance she’s okay!” May breathed, then let the hopeful look fall from her face. Now the question came to mind: what would she do now? Head to the Core and power up her device? Or ask Sans to use his machine to send her to her next destination? If she chose the second option (which was highly likely at this point) then it became a question of which way she wanted to go: to her sister in Echo, or to follow Error. She screwed her eyes shut and blocked out all the other voices as she tried to make a hurried decision.

“Stay or go, stay or go, stay or go…” she muttered, falling silent and nodding to herself when she chose. Go it was. Upon that choice, her mumbled mantra became, “June or Error, June or Error, June or Error…”

“may? you okay, kiddo?”

Suddenly, May’s decision was made, and she forced a smile for Science and Gaster.

“Thanks for all the help, guys. I’ve got to go, but I’ll keep you posted on the whole short circuit or internal damage thing. See ya!” she chirped, ending the communication before they could say anything in response. She then turned to Sans with fire in her ice-blue eyes, startling him with how quickly her attention snapped to him.

“I need you to send me after him.”

“what?”

“Error! I need to follow him. I have to make sure he doesn’t do anything to that other universe while he’s there.”

“whoa, whoa, whoa. where is this coming from?”

“Sans, I don’t have time for this. I know you’re worried about me following him, but I’ll be fine. Since he’s hurt, it’s unlikely Error will try to hurt me if I follow him. So now is my best chance to get through to him, just like I did with Chara and Frisk.” And after a second, his gaze flickered to the younger child, then back to her, his brow furrowing.

“i don’t like this, kiddo. it’s too risky. if you go after him and he ends up killing you…he can’t reset to bring you back. if you go down, you’re down for good.”

“It’s a good thing you don’t have to like it, then. And I know it’s risky. It’s been risky from day one, Sans! But I don’t care. It’s my job to help those in need and stop Error from destroying any other universes.”

“and if that job gets you killed?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, _it already did_. But even _that_ didn’t stop me.”

“and if me and the kid decide we still need you?”

May barked a humorless laugh before continuing.

“That’s weak. You and I both know you guys don’t need me anymore. All they have to do is Reset and set things right again, like they promised. My job here is done.”

“and if the kid changes their mind? what if they only listen to you?”

“Then I’ll find a way to come back. But in the meantime, I’ve got a universe-destroying skeleton to stop,” May replied, turning back to the controls for the machine. After inputting the correct commands based on what she remembered seeing Science and Gaster doing, the machine was set to universe twenty-seven, ready to transport the little girl. Finally she sighed and looked back at Sans.

“Look, it’s not up to me whether you help me or not, Sans. But I _am_ going. And knowing my sister, she’ll join me once she gets her watch powered back up and finds out where I am. But Error isn’t going to stay in this other universe forever, and I don’t think I have time to get mine powered back up before he leaves. That’s why this is so sudden. I know you don’t think it’s fair. I know you don’t think it’s right. I know you’re worried about a lot of things that’re out of your control right now. But I promise it’s going to be okay. I’ll be fine. And Frisk and Chara…”

Just as she said their name, Frisk came over and threw their arms around May, one of their eyes brown and the other the dark red she’d come to know was Chara. For once, their actions were one and the same.

“We don’t want you to go, May,” Chara murmured, looking up at her face, to which they instantly nodded (clearly Frisk, in agreement). May hugged the kids back, rubbing their back soothingly.

“I know. But I have to. I promise you’ll hear from me again, though. I’m not going away forever. But you guys have to promise me – _both_ of you – that you’ll work together to fix this timeline. No more killing. No more hurting. You’re gonna make friends with everyone, and help everybody to the surface. And once you get there, you’re gonna keep helping them. Do everything you possibly can for them. They deserve to be happy and free. Alright? Try to make this one the last Reset. For them. For Sans. For me. And I don’t wanna hear that either of you have gone back on your word, ‘cause I don’t wanna have to come back and do all of this again. You hear me?”

Chara and Frisk were in tears by now, saddened to be losing the girl, but they nodded.

“We promise. We can do it. We won’t let you down, May.”

She smiled sweetly and wiped away their tears, pecking them delicately on the forehead.

“I know you won’t. Just remember everything I’ve said. And if you miss me too much, find Sans and give me a call, okay? As long as this thing has a charge, I’ll always try to answer. Be good, guys.”

They sobbed and wiped at their eyes, but Frisk and Chara let go of her and backed away. She turned back to Sans, her expression hardening again.

“So, Sans? What’s it gonna be? Am I doing this myself, or are you gonna help me?”

Sans hesitated, but finally caved with a heavy sigh.

“dammit, kid…you really know how to twist somebody’s arm, ya know?”

May shrugged, retaining her poker face. He sighed again, walking around her and laying his hand on a button, but not pressing it.

“i take it you know what to do.”

May nodded, a smile replacing her hard look as she relaxed, happy not to have to fight him over this. She quickly darted over to the glass tube-like half of the machine and stepped in once the door opened. It slid silently shut behind her and she turned around.

“i’m gonna ask this one last time, kiddo. you sure about this?”

May nodded resolutely, her expression leaving no room for doubt.

“alright, then. see ya around, kiddo. take care of yourself.”

The freckled ravenette smiled warmly before replying, “You too, Sans.”

He nodded once, then pushed the button, stepping back to stand next to Frisk and Chara. May was instantly enveloped by the light she was so familiar with by now, and she gave them both the most confident look she could muster. When the light blinded her, she instinctively flinched…and was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Gaster Translations:** "We both seem to be a little speechless right now. But it is an immense relief to see you again, my dear."  
>  "We last spoke to her a couple days ago, I believe. Her device is unfortunately unresponsive right now as well, so we have no idea where either of you are, or the current state of your Stats, vitals... but when we spoke to her, she said she'd had a rather rough landing in the universe she is in. But she was alive and well, albeit rather concerned for your safety and whereabouts as well. As neither of your devices have come back online since we spoke to her, it can only be concluded she has not yet been able to reactivate hers."  
> "It's fine, dear. Until your device is back up and running, it can't be helped."  
> "Because the Core - or a working scale model - are the only things powerful enough to balance the electrical and magical charges needed to power the device. Anything else is more like trying to light the entire Underground with a single candle."  
> "According to what June told us, we believe it had to do with the two of you breaking the barrier in universe two-zero-four. The resulting magical shockwave that knocked you both out would have affected the devices, thus why you both woke up in Error's special section of the Anti-Void. When it hit you, the shockwave would have caused the short circuit or damage and forced a jump."  
> 


	44. June is Not a Gaster Blaster Master

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And part two of the double update! :D Sorry again for being so late, and I hope you like the last two chapters! No Gaster speak or trigger warnings in this one either, so I hope you guys enjoy, and I'll see you next week for more! -S

“so…how about sweet cheeks?”

“Still makes ya sound like a creep.”

“angel face?”

June snorted as they walked, dismissing the pet name. G had been trying to come up with something better than “sweet thing” for several minutes now, and so far, nothing was sticking.

“Less creepy, but still creep-like.”

G grunted in annoyance. So far, that was a big fat no to sweet cheeks, sweet thing, angel face, honey, sugar, babe, baby, dove, the letter of her first name, and just calling her by her first name. She refused to be called by it, and he wondered why she hadn’t just changed it if she hated it so much.

“alright. how about…honey-bunny? or just bunny?”

“Do I look like a rabbit to you?”

“ugh. fine. flame?”

“Flame? Why that?”

G shrugged, his expression blocked by the furry trim of his hood. Since they were walking through a section of the Underground that did still have waterfalls, and thus water was constantly dripping down, he had pulled his hood up. (June had long since ditched the ruined half-jacket, donning an actual jacket in its place. Oversized, and in a soft baby blue – one of her favorites, by far.)

“‘cause you’re hot like that? and you throw a wicked fireball.”

June snorted in amusement, rolling her eyes.

“Sorry, G, but no dice. Maybe I can throw ‘em, but not like Toriel. I’m more of a firecracker than a fireball anyway. Next.”

He sighed heavily before going silent, clearly thinking. Then an idea occurred to her.

“Maybe I could give you a nickname, too? What do you think about that…casanova?”

They both paused.

“no.”

“I can do better.”

They had to laugh because they’d spoken simultaneously, and once they sobered, it was back to contemplative silence for a bit.

“could just call you dork.”

“Could just call _you_ nerd. Or Bonehead.”

“ouch. neither. neither is good.”

“Ditto with dork.”

More silence.

“baby girl?”

June’s face scrunched up instantly, the rejection clear.

“oof. i’ll take that as a ‘hell no’.”

“I call my sister that as a term of endearment. Too weird. Definitely not.”

“oh. ah. eh, yeah, no. sorry.”

“You didn’t know.”

The gentle _drip…drip…drip_ of the water and the soft sound of their footfalls were the only thing to break the silence.

“how about hot stuff?”

“Okay, a, still sounds creepy. What is it with you and sounding creepy? And b,” she added, dropping her voice to a sultry tone again and sidling up close to him, “you don’t know what kind of stuff I’ve got.”

“you could always show me,” G retorted evenly, despite his burning cheekbones. She hummed in reply, a teasing smile playing at her blood-red lips.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, tiger?”

“tiger? what’s that?”

“Wait, seriously? You don’t know?” she asked, the question effectively killing any kind of mood she was setting up. He shook his head.

“It’s a type of animal. What’s known as a big cat, actually. Tigers are large orange cats with white bellies and undersides and black stripes. They’ve got extremely sharp claws and teeth, the kind that could kill a human without much effort if they really wanted to. They’re also what’s called an endangered species. It means that they’ve been hunted so much by humans that there aren’t very many of them left in the world, and if we don’t stop hunting them, they’ll go extinct. Meaning they cease to exist.”

“shit. that’s…”

“Yeah. If there’s anything humans are better at than any other living thing, it’s fucking shit up,” June sighed, glancing over at what she could see of G’s face. “Not really a rant you want to get me started on. Trust me on that one.”

“alright, fair enough. so why try to nickname me based off an almost-extinct animal that could kill you?”

Now it was June’s turn to shrug, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

“I dunno, actually. It’s just a common thing. When in the heat of the moment, the chick calls the dude ‘tiger’. I think once upon a time it meant that it had something to do with his sex drive or something? But beats the hell out of me now. Tiger doesn’t suit ya anyway. Forget about it.”

June tilted her head back in thought, only bringing it back down when the water dripping onto her upturned face became too annoying.

“how about cherry?”

She looked over at him and caught him waggling his brow bone at her suggestively, no hint of a blush for once. She tried to suppress the blush that crept up on her own cheeks from the suggestion.

“How about no? On so many different levels. So many levels of no…”

G laughed at her embarrassment, having caught the slightly higher pitch of her voice when she spoke that time and the faint blush dusting her cheeks. (Success! He finally got her to be at least a little flustered and blushing! He knew she would say no to that, but it was worth it for her reaction.)

“What about Ace for you?”

G gave that one serious consideration, but shook his head.

“nah. but points for the actual effort.”

June hummed in response, and they walked in a companionable silence.

“azure.”

“Hmm?”

“azure. like the shade of blue. ya know, after that half of your Soul.”

“Oh. Hmm…elegant. I _do_ like it…but I don’t think it fits as a nickname. Sorry.”

G hummed this time, going back to thinking.

“Oh! I’ve got one. Orion.”

“huh?”

“It’s the name of a constellation. A group of stars ancient humans thought formed a picture in the nighttime sky and ended up naming. Most of them have names straight out of Greek mythology, so the names are difficult to pronounce or really long or a little silly sounding, but they all have meanings. Like Orion. I can’t remember what it was he was supposed to have done, but I remember he was a hero in Greek mythology. And he’s one of the easier to locate constellations, due to the set of three stars that make up his ‘belt’ being in a perfect line. No other set of stars mimics that, so he’s one of the three most commonly known constellations.”

“whoa…that’s pretty sweet. but i don’t see that working. actual brownie points this time. trying to name me after a constellation…heh. betcha didn’t know i’m fascinated by the stars. well, in truth, pretty much every sans is, so i know which part of me that interest comes from, but…”

“Dude, I had no idea you liked the stars!” June’s dark eyes were wide now, her brain getting stuck on that part of what he’d said. “That’s awesome! I _love_ the stars, and the nighttime sky, and space in general, because there’s so much out there, and even though we’ve come really far since the whole thing about space became a huge deal, there’s still so much we haven’t explored! And we’re always discovering new things every day! And there’s so much about the stars that’s super fascinating. Like ancient humans used to do this thing where they’d try to read the stars and the alignment of the planets and junk to tell the future. Now, we call it reading our horoscopes and shorten the list of constellations down to something called the zodiac, but some people really believe in that stuff. I just like to read it out of curiosity, to see how far off the mark they are.”

June finally paused for breath, only then realizing what she was doing when she caught G staring at her. Her face instantly flushed and she groaned, hiding behind her hands.

“oh my stars, you’re a nerd for space.”

“Shut up!” she barked, immediately hiding behind her hands again. G just started laughing as she went to defend herself.

“I-I just…I’ve always been fascinated by it, okay? Like, the Underground…to you, it’s pretty big, right? Well, the surface is a metric fuck-ton bigger. But living up there, when you look at the stars, or see pictures of galaxies that’re lightyears away, or…well, anyway, my point is, it makes you feel really small in the grand scheme of things. It makes you think about the fact that you’re just one person living on a rock that’s hurtling through space at eighteen-point-five miles per second, and there’s a lot out there that’s bigger and tougher than you, and beyond that, there’s so much that’s still a big fuckin’ question mark because no one has made it out that far yet. And there’s this huge possibility that there’s other life out there, because there’s no way in hell we’re the only planet with life on it, right? And…it kinda makes you feel all small and powerless and insignificant, but at the same time, it feels…so much less lonely. Because you end up thinking…there’s gotta be someone, somewhere, looking up at the sky, same as you, and thinking and feeling the same thing. And maybe you’re not looking at the same sky, or living the same life, or you’ve got nothing else in common, but maybe one day, you will. It’s…it’s a thought that’s always filled me with hope.”

Somewhere in her speech, June stopped walking and tilted her head back again, eyes closed with a small smile playing on her lips, but when she finally stopped talking, she opened her eyes and lowered her gaze back down to G, who was staring at her in pure awe. The look on his face made her blush, and she pulled at the hood of her jacket, turning to start walking again.

“A-anyway, yeah, so what if I am a bit of a space nerd? Just means I’m passionate about something. So fuck off about it.”

G just chuckled under his breath and caught up to her, smiling gently. Then an idea occurred to him, and he pulled her to a stop.

“What? What’s up?”

“i was thinking about this earlier, when you were fighting error…you’re magic is really similar to ours. sans’ and gaster’s i mean. and you’re definitely strong enough to handle it, so i was wondering…you know how to summon a gaster blaster?”

June shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself unconsciously, thinking of the two times she’s gotten personally acquainted with the power behind the gargantuan laser-shooting skulls.

“But while I was in Handplates, I did, um…absorb the power from a Gaster Blaster? And amplified it with my own power before firing it back at the blaster?”

G’s eye sockets widened in what she assumed his approximation of eyes bugging out would be, then shook his head, as if to dismiss the thought for now.

“we can talk about how that shouldn’t have been possible and you should have died later. like i said, though, since you’re definitely strong enough to handle it, and your magic is very similar to both sans’ and gaster’s, in theory, you should be able to summon gaster blasters, too.”

Now it was June’s turn to have her eyes bug a bit, looking at him in surprise.

“No fuckin’ way. Seriously? You think I should be able to summon _Gaster Blasters?_ Those things are fucking massive! How much magic would that take, anyway? The level of concentration it takes would be insane…”

“maybe that’s all true. but i think you can do it. so what’s the harm in trying? besides, it just might give you a leg up on that glitched out psychopath.”

June fell silent, thinking about it before nodding.

“Okay. So…can you, like…teach me? Because otherwise I have no fuckin’ idea what I’m doing.”

“right. sure. so, first things first…your magic. explain to me how it works. can you use it without making it manifest? uh, where your hands and eyes are glowing?”

“Um, sort of? I think? But also, not really. All the rest of my powers that aren’t connected to the orange and blue magic take some amount of it – the healing the most out of all of them – but at the same time, they don’t require me to manifest my magic itself. That only happens if I want to use the orange or blue magic. And I’ve only ever used the orange magic…twice before. Once being earlier. The blue magic I have a really good handle on, though, since it’s a lot like my telekinesis, just with more…precision? Yeah, that’s a good word for it. Other than that, there’s not much I could tell you that you probably don’t already know.”

G nodded, absorbing the knowledge.

“alright. so then the actual first step here is to have you manifest your magic.”

June nodded, taking a moment to center herself before calling forth her magic, the orange and blue swirling off her hands and away from her eyes like mist. She then cast her gaze back to G, waiting for further instruction.

“sorry, just…seeing your magic is still a real sight. gives me an idea. how about somethin’ like sapphire?”

“Huh?”

“the pet name. half your Soul and your magic is blue. and sapphire is not only a shade of blue, but also a beautiful precious gem, like yourself, so…”

June blushed, snorting at his logic.

“A, now isn’t really the time. B, no. Don’t even like sapphires that much. And weak flirting attempt.”

“you’re blushing, aren’t ya?”

“Can we focus on trying to teach me how to summon a Gaster Blaster, please?”

G chuckled, but agreed.

“alright. so what you do is focus all your magic. just focus it. then…since you’re learning, let’s start with just one blaster. pour all that magic and concentration and energy into one place. thinking of the blasters floating behind you or just over your shoulder tends to work pretty well, but maybe try just putting it in front of you for now. then, once the blaster is fully formed…you point and focus your intent through the magic you poured into it, and the blaster will take care of the rest.”

“Wow. Okay, this sounds really complicated. But if someone tried to make me explain one of my powers, I can’t imagine it’d be that much different. Okay. I can do this. Just…focus,” June muttered the last bit to herself, memorizing his instructions. Focus the magic. Imagine a blaster in front of her and channel her magic into it. Once formed, ready, aim, fire (er, point, focus intent, fire…but who’s counting). She breathed deeply a few times, centering herself and meditating. It sounded complicated, but this could be as easy as snapping her fingers for all she knew. Magic was weird like that.

She began to focus her magic, trying to pull it all to one place. After a few seconds of trying to focus it, she realized it was a like herding cats. Finally her focus slipped and she doubled over as she attempted to catch her breath. Wow, step one was a lot harder than she thought. Or was she just that strong? Did she have so much magic that trying to accumulate it all was actually not a real possibility? The thought actually scared her. The last thing she needed was more power. But a boney hand on her back brought her out of her thoughts, and she glanced up at G through the mess of hair in the way.

“you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, just…hoo. I didn’t think focusing it would be so tough. I mean, I do that all the time with my other powers. What makes this different? Yeesh. Haven’t been this out of breath in a long time.”

“well, your other powers only draw on a fraction of your magic. this is not just all of that other accumulated power, but your two base forms of magic as well. you’re essentially tapping into everything you’ve got. and from what i saw…you’ve got a lot.”

June huffed in response to the comment, still too winded to make the snarky comeback waiting on the tip of her tongue. When she finally straightened, she heaved a sigh and ran a hand through her thick midnight locks, her thoughts from earlier echoing in her mind again.

“How, uh…how bad we talking, here? What was I doing?”

“you had yourself surrounded in your magic, like some sort of orange and blue aura. and you were levitating. you couldn’t tell?”

“Shit…” she murmured under her breath, half hoping G didn’t catch the worry in her tone. “No, I couldn’t. I was too focused. Literally. But gathering all my magic was…it was difficult. Like I just couldn’t hold it all. I didn’t feel overwhelmed by it or anything, but I just literally couldn’t keep it all focused. Like I could hold most of it, but there was always some, no matter how hard I tried, that kept slipping away.”

“huh…i’ve never heard of something like that happening before. i wonder, then…”

“Ya know, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all…”

“wha-? what makes you say that? you were all gung-ho a minute ago.”

June sighed and wrapped her arms around her middle as she thought about how best to phrase it. When she had some semblance of thought together, her eyes flickered up to him from a split second before looking away again, her nervous tick kicking in as she curled her hair behind her ear.

“I’m just…I dunno. I think maybe I don’t need Gaster Blasters at my disposal. I mean, I’m plenty strong as it is. I don’t see the need to make me, like, OP or anything…”

“op?”

“Over powered. Like, so ridiculously strong that I can literally obliterate anything in my path. I mean, I have my limits as it stands, and I’m pretty close to being OP already. I don’t really need more, ya know?”

G stared hard at her for a minute, with her glancing at him and looking away several times while fidgeting nervously. Finally she looked him dead on, and, in a highly defensive tone, spat, “What?”

“try again.”

June blinked in clear confusion, not expecting him to say…well, she wasn’t sure what to expect period, but this wasn’t it.

“Huh?”

“giving me a nickname. try again.”

“Oh. Wait, now?”

“yeah, now. go on.”

June frowned, wanting to know what the heck was going on, but shook her head and sighed, staring at her feet as she thought. Her head snapped up as one came to her.

“Hercules. He’s another hero out of Greek mythology. One of the most famous, actually,” she went on to G’s confused look. “He’s got a constellation too, but it’s not as well-known as Orion. He’s best known for his super strength, which he got from being a demigod. Meaning he was the son of a mortal and a god. In this case, his mother was the mortal, and his father was the god Zeus, ruler of the gods or something. Hey, don’t give me that look. My nerd field is space, not ancient mythologies. Anyway, Hercules supposedly went through all these trials and fights and such to prove himself or something like that, like most Greek heroes, but why he went to all that trouble, I can’t remember. Point is, there’s a name. Hercules.”

G snorted, shaking his head.

“uh, no. no…however the hell you pronounced that. her-cue-lease? yeah, no.”

June shrugged, trying to resist the smile that tugged on the corner of her lips.

“my turn.”

“Oh, we’re taking turns now?”

“hush up, ‘cause i’ve already got one for you. try forest.”

June made a face, to which G sighed.

“reasons for rejection?”

“I’m not being called by a dude’s name.”

“what?”

“Yeah. On the surface, sometimes you come across guys whose first name is Forest. So, yeah, no. Not fond of that idea. Reasons behind the suggestion?”

“you didn’t seem to care for anything based off of the blue half of your Soul, and i couldn’t come up with anything good for the orange half. decided to try based off the color of something else about you that i like. your eyes are green. forest is a shade of green.”

“Oh. Actually, that’s kind of sweet. But following that logic, you could have picked something better. Next.”

“nah. i’m thinkin’. your turn.”

“Ah. Okay. Still on taking turns. Well…give me a minute here. Ah! Aries.”

G blinked blankly at her.

“explain?”

“It’s the name of a constellation in the zodiac.”

June stopped, about to say more, but deciding against it. G raised a brow bone at her, prodding her when she didn’t continue.

“I also know like ten million useless little facts about all the zodiac, including Aries, that I didn’t think you wanted to hear. Or, more accurately, I didn’t think you’d be interested in.”

“this coming from the same girl that gave me that big passionate speech about why she loves space so much.”

“Shut the fuck up!” June shouted back, her face instantly going red. “Asshole!”

“i _did_ say i was interested in the stars. can’t say i’m not intrigued by the concept of the zodiac and the alignment of the stars having a special meaning. so tell me all the little things you know. maybe i’m just as interested as you are.”

June paused, staring at him for a second before a crooked grin stretched across her face, her eyes sparkling with excitement and glee.

“Okay. But just know you asked for this. So, according to ‘experts’, the zodiac had to be changed a few years back because they found some new constellation or whatever – which I totally don’t buy – so there’s kind of a line that divides astrologers right now. The ones that go by the new guidelines for the zodiac, and the ones that follow the old guidelines. Personally, I’m in favor of the old way, but that’s also coming from someone who’s from the generation that takes it personally that Pluto isn’t considered a planet anymore. So ya know. Take that with a grain of salt. _Anyway_ , everything I know is from the classic astrology stuff, so if you ever come across anything that contradicts anything I say, well…now you know why.

“So, to the point of what I’m trying to get to: Aries. In the zodiac, it represents the ram. According to the old astrology rules, anyone born between March twenty-first and April nineteenth falls under the sign for Aries. It’s one of three fire signs in the zodiac – yes, ancient astrologers assigned the zodiac to elements. They also assigned a bunch of other, weirder shit to them.”

“really?”

“Yeah, and I’m getting there, so don’t interrupt. Anyway, like I was saying. Aries is one of three fire signs in the zodiac, which means people born under a fire sign are creative, passionate, independent, and energetic types. Aries specifically are known to have a lot of leader-type personalities, and are prone to being stubborn and headstrong. The planet associated with Aries is Mars, which is actually kind of funny. See, there was a period of human history where a group called the Romans were trying to conquer everything, and sometimes they did this through religion. In meshing with the Greeks, the Romans kinda just…renamed the Greek gods and kept the rest of the mythology, so Ares, _Greek_ god of war became Mars, _Roman_ god of war.”

“the fuck? why even bother renaming anything, then?”

“Beats the hell out of me. Ancient humans did a lot of weird shit. Half of it was because they didn’t know any better, but then you come across something like that and just go, the fuck, guys? What even? But no one actually knows. Oh, and I am very much aware of the fact that the zodiac sign and the Greek god of war are pronounced similarly. The difference is spelling. Ares the god is A-R-E-S, whereas Aries the sign is A-R-I-E-S. Anyway, back to my point. Other oddball things associated with the zodiac are shit like days of the week, certain colors, stones, scents, flowers…it’s kind of a big mess. Still want me to keep going?”

“please, by all means. this is actually really interesting. and weird. and hilarious.”

June grinned and continued with no further prompting, explaining everything she knew about the zodiac sign Aries: its day of the week (Tuesday), season (spring), colors (all shades of red), scent (frankincense), plants (red poppy, thistle, and ginger), gemstones (bloodstone, garnet, red jasper, and fire opal), metal (iron), quality (cardinal), opposite sign (Libra), and most commonly associated traits (honesty, bravery, and stubbornness). Trying to explain the season, plants, scent, quality, and gemstones was tricky, given that all of them lead to tangents that June was reluctant to get stuck on. Given that her knowledge of most of those topics was highly limited, there wasn’t much she could actually tell him, anyway. And she outright refused to delve into her knowledge on the sign Libra, mostly because it meant she would more than likely talk G to death. She insisted that her love of astronomy and astrology went further than they had time to really get into right then, to which he finally conceited.

“So, with all that useless knowledge and background and junk that you now know about it, what do you think of the nickname Aries?”

G gave it a long minute of thought before shaking his head.

“nah. all that stuff about it was pretty cool, but it doesn’t suit me. actually, it honestly suits you better than it does me. especially personality-wise.”

“Hey! …actually, you’re right. It does.”

They both laughed, sitting shoulder to shoulder, since they ended up sitting down during June’s long-winded explanation of Aries as a zodiac sign.

“so, out of curiosity, what’s your zodiac sign?”

“Gemini, actually.”

“which means?”

“Hoo, boy. You really want to get into this?”

G gave her a grin and leaned against her comfortably.

“Welp, okay, then. So, Gemini represents the twins…”

Cue another long winded explanation, this time about her own sign of Gemini. She personally knew she didn’t fit her sign very well, she so mentioned that many aspects typical of most Geminis didn’t actually apply to her. And, funnily enough, she shared the sign with her sister, whom it fit much better. Not perfectly, but significantly better than it did her.

“so…when are your birthdays, then? they have to be pretty close for you two to have the same zodiac sign.”

“Well, mine’s May twenty-third, and hers is June eleventh. Part of the reason I don’t fit Gemini very well: I’m actually what most people call a cusp baby. Meaning I was born on or very near the cut off for the sign I was born under. So I tend to show the traits for both the sign I was born under, and the sign I border with. In this case, Taurus. Which is actually kind of funny, because most times, Gemini and Taurus don’t typically work well as a pair. But stuck together as one person…call me unique, I guess.”

G snorted. Unique was certainly a word for it…if an understatement.

“Hey. Now you’ve got me curious. When’s your birthday?”

“hmm…not sure. sans’ is october twenty-sixth. gaster’s is june second. but since i’m actually a fusion of the two, i’m not sure i even technically _have_ a birthday.”

“Oh, come on. Maybe you weren’t born in the traditional sense – for monsters _or_ humans – but there was a point in time where you didn’t exist, and after that point, you did. I’d say that counts as a birthday…or as close as we can get for you. So, I guess that counts as the day Sans and Gaster fused and became you? Or maybe the day you first woke up after the fact. Ya know, when you became aware as your own person, separate from them. Actually, that works better. Let’s go with when you first woke up after the fusion. So when was that?”

“november third. i think. everything from right after i woke up is a little fuzzy.”

“Okay. Well, if it was around November third, then that makes you a solid Scorpio. Funny. You mentioned Sans’ and Gaster’s birthdays, and Sans is a Scorpio, too. But he’s a cusp baby, like me. He’d show traits of both Scorpio and the bordering sign, Libra. But you, nah, you’re dead center Scorpio, meaning you wouldn’t show traits of any other signs. Scorpio kinda makes sense for you, actually.”

“really? and why’s that?”

June’s eyes brightened as she went on to explain everything she knew about Scorpio, and G was surprised by just how…dead on just the general personality for a Scorpio was. Maybe there was something to the whole horoscopes thing, after all. When June’s explanation finally wound down, G almost forgot the whole reason he’d started this line of conversation in the first place.

“so why not just call each other by our signs?”

June wrinkled her nose, snorting a little in amusement.

“So you’d call me Gemini, and I’d call you Scorpio,” she clarified, in a tone that said she was trying to point out how silly it sounded. Hearing her say it out loud made it sound…not like what he’d been hoping.

“yeah, never mind.”

June smirked playfully at him, an understanding look on her face. After a comfortable pause, he turned to her, searching her face for something.

“so…ya all nice and relaxed now?”

“Mm…I guess so. This was a really nice break, actually.”

“glad you think so. because i was kind of hoping that you’d tell me the real reason you don’t want to learn how to summon gaster blasters if you relaxed a bit first.”        

June tensed up the second he mentioned the blasters, leaning away from him and curling up on herself anxiously, her knees pressed against her chest. Of course he’d seen right through her, a small voice in the back of her head chastised. She got too relaxed around him, let her walls down, let him in…and thanks to touching her Soul, he’d seen some of the darkest parts of her. It only made sense that now he’d have a much clearer understanding of her thoughts and self-doubt. And yet, rather than call her out on it, he was letting her voice them herself. Making her come to terms with her unspoken fear. And he was doing it because he cared.

Bearing that thought in mind, she took deep breaths until she felt her anxiety ebb some, then made herself say it.

“I…I’m…afraid of having too much power. I already have so much at my disposal, and even when I didn’t, I…I did something horrible with it. I couldn’t control it; i-it was too much power for just a kid to have. It’s _still_ too much power for just one person to have. I’m dangerous, G. In the wrong hands, my power is devastating. And it takes everything I have to keep it in check most of the time. My biggest fear has always been losing control again and hurting others with my powers. And now, throwing magic into the equation, something I know even less about controlling than I ever did with my powers…I…I want nothing to do with it. I don’t want more power. I’m way too dangerous as it is. But it seems like no matter what I do, the universe is dead set on working against me. And it seems to me that learning how to summon a Gaster Blaster is just too much. I’ve seen, I’ve _felt_ , the kind of power and destruction those things have. And that’s not something I need. I’m strong enough without them. And I don’t need – I don’t _want_ – to be stronger, and learning how to use them would do just that. I just…I-I don’t…”

G finally silenced her by gently grabbing her chin and making her look at him. The fear and anxiety were plain on her face, but G looked as sure of himself as when he had first assured her she LV wouldn’t be any higher than two after her battle with the Handplates Gaster.

“i understand you’re afraid of having too much power. you’re afraid of what you can already do. you don’t want to add more to that. and you’re right. it _is_ a lot of power for one person to have. your power _would_ be dangerous in the wrong hands. but that’s just it. your power isn’t in anyone else’s hands but _yours_. and that doesn’t make you dangerous. it makes you insanely _brave_. for any one person to have as much power as you hold and not become corrupted by it is nothing short of awe-inspiring. you could _end worlds_ if you wanted to, but instead, you’re going around _saving them_. and yeah, you’ve made mistakes. but you had to learn how to use and control that power somehow. and i’m not saying that taking a life is fine in that circumstance. but you’ve spent almost a decade torturing and punishing yourself over it – longer than anyone else would, or ever could. and you know something? anyone else, they’d probably be a slave to the power you possess by now. but you? you command it like the queen you are. and i promise you that learning how to summon a gaster blaster won’t make you any stronger than you already are. it’s just teaching you a new way to harness the power you already have. and if that’s not enough to convince you, then let me pass this along as well – the blasters are only as strong as your emotions and intent behind them. so i’m gonna say it one more time: you’re not dangerous. you’re not a bad person. you’ve got your share of darkness in you, sure, but you’ve never let it define you. there’s so much about you that you don’t give yourself credit for, or at least, not enough. and i know for a fact that you’ve got a good heart…and an even better Soul. so cut yourself a little slack. take a risk, maybe. let me teach you. and if it turns out you were right, and this was a terrible idea that never should have happened, well…you can tell me ‘i told you so’ when we see each other in hell.”

This last comment got a small giggle out of June, her fear and anxiety melting away. Just like before, G’s words rang with an authority she didn’t understand, but made her feel better for having heard them. Not thinking twice about the action, she shrugged his hand away from where it rested against her cheek and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. It took him a second, but he eventually hugged her back, and only then did she pull away.

“Thanks, G. I…I can’t figure out how you keep doing that, but…that’s exactly what I needed to hear, apparently. I feel a lot better.”

G just smiled at her, an almost goofy grin to match an expression she couldn’t quite place, and she had to laugh, blushing a little to herself. The blush had more to do with having to squash the urge to kiss him than anything else. Which, why that bothered her now, she had no idea. She wasn’t exactly shy when it came to her love life, but…something about thinking that way for the skeleton gave her pause in a way she wasn’t used to. Better to put those thoughts out of her mind for now, though. She had a new magic trick to learn.

“So…” she finally drew the conversation back on point, getting up and brushing the dirt off her pants. “Are we gonna figure out if I can summon a Gaster Blaster or what?”

G’s grin became much more enthusiastic, getting up and stepping back before gesturing for her to go ahead and try again.

“since you said you were having trouble getting all of your magic together, maybe try just as much of it as you actually can, then following through with the other steps.”

June nodded, her nerves returning briefly before she repeated her set up of meditating and centering herself. Step one, focus. After a bit, she realized she had as much of her magic as she was going to get and quit reaching for the last of it that kept escaping her. Instead, she switched over to the next step. Visualizing the blaster and channeling her magic into the location of her choice for it to appear. She released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding when she felt it all condensing around her hands – no, not just _around_ her hands, but _between_ them as well, when she opened her eyes and glanced down. (When had she raised her hands to form the ball of magic sitting between them? When had she started _levitating?_ )

“Shit!” she hissed as she lost her focus, dropping back to the ground unsteadily, her magic flooding back through her being. She stumbled, but only noticed because she shortly fell over, the sudden rush of power shooting through her veins making her dizzy and disoriented. G was too far away to catch her, but was quick enough to be by her side when she had to close her eyes and hold a hand over her mouth from the sudden wave of nausea the struck her.

“no, no, keep your eyes open. trust me, it’s worse if you close them,” he added, rubbing her back in broad circles. After a minute, the nausea and dizziness passed, and she felt she could safely breathe again.

“Fuck…that was pretty bad.”

“maybe, but you got past the first part. was it any easier?”

“Ugh, sort of? It was like I was doing fine until I opened my eyes and started thinking again. My brain just kicked into overdrive, and this sense of hyper-awareness hit when I opened my eyes, and I think I panicked? I don’t know…” she sighed as G helped her to her feet. He gave her a patient smile.

“two attempts, and you’re already doing better than sans was when he was learning. it took him several attempts just to get his magic focused correctly. so i’d say you’re not doing too badly, emerald.”

“Aw, thanks. Wait. Emerald?”

“ah, trying the nickname thing again. another gem, but for your eyes this time.”

June snorted, pointing a finger at G as if to intimidate him.

“Compare me to a rock again, and you’ll get your damn blaster – but you won’t like where it’s aimed, bone boy.”

Despite the dark tone of her voice, her smile betrayed her. Her words were an empty threat, and they both knew it, so G just laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. June relaxed, grinning herself, and shook her head. She then sighed and waved him off, assuring him she was fine and shooing him away so she could try again.

Now, focusing was coming a little easier to her, so step one wasn’t as much of a challenge as it was the first time around. Step two was less of a shock this time was well, keeping her eyes closed and staying focused on where she wanted the blaster to appear. This time, the ball of magic that formed between her hands floated away from her as she thought of the exact spot she wanted the blaster to be in, the more analytical and calculating side of her positioning it just so. With it in place, her hands began moving almost of their own accord, but as her eyes tried to open in alarm and her magic wavered, she forced them shut again, steadying herself. Once she was sure she was collected enough to proceed, her hands began to move again, and this time, she knew what they were doing. She could have smiled if she wasn’t so focused – though she was more of a pencil to paper type of artist, she knew what it felt like to be sculpting something. And she envisioned the blaster pretty clearly, so she had to hope her hands knew to follow the pattern in her mind.

Once she was sure the blaster was fully formed, she opened her eyes again, finding herself with both feet on the ground (surprisingly), and…a very misshapen blaster in front of her. It stared at her, and she stared back at it, shocked. Well, she had her blaster…but it sure as hell didn’t look anything like any of the blasters she’d seen before. This one was easily as tall as she was, with horns that flared impressively from the back of its skull, and piercing eyes – one orange, and one blue, representative of her magic, she realized. But given that its jaws appeared to be fused together, the only thing it would be piercing was whatever it was looking it. On top of this small detail, was the fact that whatever animal skull it was supposed to look like…it was most certainly not what she had made, the poor thing appearing more like the deformed love child of a Chihuahua and a horse.

June’s face went red from embarrassment, and rather than try to figure out if the damn thing could even fire, she just turned to G, about to ask how the hell to make it go away. Instead, her face got redder as she saw him doubled over, trying to silence his laughter at her attempt at forming a Gaster Blaster. When he saw her looking, he couldn’t contain it anymore and burst out laughing, actually falling over from how hard he was laughing at her poor blaster. June spluttered for a minute in mortification before finally stringing together a coherent sentence.

“ _You’re a fucking asshole! Stop laughing_ and _tell me_ how to _get rid of it!_ ”


	45. The Call for a Ship to Sail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, there is a small line in Gaster-speak, so it's in the ROT2 cipher as usual with the translation in the end notes this time. Other than that, no warnings or heads-ups needed for this chapter. Enjoy, guys! :D -S

After several more failed attempts at forming a Gaster Blaster, June was worn out and fuming, still frustrated with G for laughing at her the whole time. He felt bad for laughing, but each attempt she’d made only made the blaster look worse, and he honestly had no advice for how to fix the problem. He’d never seen an instance where any version of Sans or Gaster had ever formed a solid mass of magic the way she was and molded it to make a blaster. So the best he could do was try to encourage her efforts to manually shape the damn thing.

“maybe that’s the problem.”

“Huh?”

“why your blasters are so…interestingly shaped.”

“Shut the fuck up,” she muttered under her breath, folding her arms across her chest and continued stomping in the direction she’d picked to walk this time. “So what do you think the problem is?”

“i can’t be sure, but i think it’s that you’re trying to manually form the blasters. you bring the magic into existence too soon, and so it’s more resistant to what you’re doing.”

“Huh. Any bright ideas for how to get me to stop forming my magic too quickly, then?”

“well, if you open your eyes and watch yourself at work, maybe –”

“We’ve been over why that doesn’t work. My brain gets freaked out and panicky when things happen that’re out of my control. If I’m not consciously doing something, red flags go up all over the place, and everything shuts down.”

“then it sounds more like you need to relax. if you’re too tense, then of course you’re gonna freak out. you just need to let it happen. stay calm _and_ focused.”

June shot him a skeptical look, but sighed and dropped her arms, stopping as she looked back at the small waterfall they had just passed. G stopped as well, turning back to look at her curiously.

“What I _need_ is a shower. I’m fucking filthy.”

“are you, now?”

“Not like that. Ya perv,” June smirked, teasing him. “But I really do need a shower. Unless you bathed me during that week I was out cold? Didn’t think so. So I haven’t showered in well over a week, and it’s fucking nasty. Ya mind if we stop so I can?”

G shrugged, lighting a cigarette before gesturing for her to go ahead if she wanted to. She sighed a thank you before dropping her bag at his feet and bending down to unlace her boots. Once she had them undone, she quickly kicked them off, her socks going next, both sets of items ending up next to her bag. It wasn’t until she pulled off her tank top that G’s face burned bright gold and he cleared his throat, looking away from her.

“What?”

“um, you don’t…want me to, uh…”

June snorted, seeing where this was going.

“No. I’ve got nothing to hide. And certainly nothing to be ashamed of,” she purred, keeping her tank top draped over one arm as she purposefully shimmied out of her pants. G’s whole skull was golden when she looked up, a flirty, playful, knowing smirk on her lips.

“Hell, you could actually join me if you wanted to. I honestly don’t give a shit,” she added, quickly dropping the pants on top of her boots and socks. She held onto the tank top for a minute longer as she searched through her bag for shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.

“Besides,” she finally added once she found them and straightened, her back towards him, “if I didn’t want you to look…I’d just do this.”

With a quick flick of her wrist, she tossed the tank top at G, the garment hitting him in the face before he could react. She laughed as he first stumbled back because of it, but made it look as though it was his idea to sit down right then, blindfolded by her tank top. She shook her head and continued to strip, leaving her undergarments at the edge of the pool of water surrounding the waterfall. Not sure that there would be anywhere for her to put them once she went over to the waterfall, she elected to leave the three bottles near her undergarments, wading over to the waterfall and sighing as the water washed over her, soaking her thick hair in seconds.

As she bathed, she’d sometimes feel eyes on her and glance over at G, but any time she looked, he still had the tank top covering his face, so she’d shake her head and go back to what she was doing. Which was mostly just thinking. She was looking forward to getting the watch powered and seeing her sister again, but the thought also brought on a pang of sadness. Seeing her sister meant leaving G behind, and that idea didn’t sit well with her. He was all alone in this universe, even if it _was_ his home. Maybe there was something she could do to fix things for him before she left? She doubted it, since she wasn’t Frisk and had no red magic or timeline-fuckery-powers of any kind, but she was at least going to try. It was kind of her job now, right?

Thinking of that made her frown, glancing down at the stains Ink’s blood had made. Error hadn’t been wrong about everything. Ever since that first battle, when he’d thrown her and she’d landed in the pool of Ink’s blood, she’d never been able to get them off of herself or May. And though the stains appeared on their clothes (no matter what they wore), if they didn’t have any clothes on, the stains just seemed to move to their skin. But…magic or no, there was just no way Ink was still alive and clinging to the girls through the blood stains…right? It was a creepy enough thought that she shuddered, forcing her brain to switch gears away from the topic.

Doing so brought her mind back to G. Since the whole touching-and-handling-of-her-Soul thing, she’d noticed that she was significantly more comfortable around him than she was with literally anyone else. There were some things she vowed to herself never to speak of, even to her own sister…and now G knew them. And strangely enough, she was fine with that. In fact, it bothered her more how okay with it she was than the fact that he knew in the first place. It bothered her how easily she had come to trust him, even before the thing with her Soul. No one knew how to tear down her walls like May did, but even then…well, May knew June had secrets. June knew that she knew. But May had left it alone, letting June have whatever time and space she needed to adjust before she was ready for May to know of the things she had faced. G, however, had managed to slip past her initial defenses (must have been because he was a Sans – she felt she could trust him at least a little on that principle alone), and thanks to the Soul touching-thing, he had blown right past most of her other walls. Now he was chipping away at the last bits of her armor, piece by piece…and it didn’t bother her in the slightest. The terrifying thing was that she was _happy_ to have someone this close to her. She had so few people that cared about her, or ever got to see her as vulnerable as G had, and it was a bit freeing to finally open up to someone else again. But that fact alone scared her shitless.

And all that certainly explained her sudden change in behavior. Shyness wasn’t a common trait for her, so when it did rear its head, it was always surprising. And (seemingly) despite her newfound level of comfort and companionship with the skeleton, she couldn’t help but find herself becoming increasingly shy and modest around him. Before, she wouldn’t have thought twice about kissing him, or the perverted comments, or him seeing her naked. (Okay, _that_ part still didn’t bother her much, but it _did_ make her heart flutter a little, casting a quick glance at G – no, he still wasn’t looking. Seriously, how long was he going to sit there with her tank top over his face?) However, now that she was thinking about it, she realized she never initiated those things. Sure, she had never turned them down, but she hadn’t been the one to start them. She just finished them. (Among _other_ things – Jesus, June, mind out of the gutter! Focus!) But with G, it was different. She found herself actually thinking about and wanting to make that first move, something she’d never done before…and it made her shy and nervous. And she decided she _really_ didn’t like being shy and nervous. On someone as confident and sure of themselves as she had become, they were…not always a good look.

But that was just the thing, she supposed. None of the Sanses – G included – seemed to have any fucks to give over how she looked. Yeah, she could tell her looks played a factor in how they saw her (hell, they’d started out more or less defining how she got along with the Fell skeleton brothers), but what won over the skeletons was always something else. It was refreshing to find people who could actually look past her appearances and see that there was something – some _one_ – underneath it all. Actually, all the monsters were good about that, now that she was thinking about it. Then again, the monsters themselves varied so widely in appearance, it was like they as a race had decided to hit “fuck it” and just go about their lives never really seeing everyone’s exterior. (But that could also have something to do with monsters being made of magic, and seeing – or at least, sensing – the Souls of others…but what did she know? G was right. There was a lot she still didn’t know, even after months of being among monsters.) Either way, since it was rare on the surface for her to find anyone so open and accepting like that, she certainly treasured it among the monsters.

As she mulled over that, she felt the small fire that had kindled in her heart for the monsters burn brighter and stronger than ever. For the race that had showed her and her younger sister nothing but kindness and acceptance since they’d met…she wanted to return the favor. And what better way to do that than set them free from their subterranean prison and protect them from a skeleton hell-bent on destroying every universe he came across? It may have started out as May’s mission, she thought to herself, but for the first time since she was a kid, she cared about something that wasn’t her sister. And she would stop at nothing to see them happy and safe.

Satisfied with where her thoughts had drifted to, she finally just let her mind wander, relaxing in the water with a contented sigh. Forgetting where she was for a bit, she went about thoroughly scrubbing the dirt and grime off of her and felt the urge to sing. Something soft and gentle, like her mood, maybe. Maybe…yeah, that would work.

And so she began to sing. The sound was barely audible over the rush of the water, but she sang with such emotion and conviction, it more than made up for the lack of volume. It was just a short song, but it still wasn’t lost on her forgotten audience of one, watching the way she danced slightly under the spray as she sang.

“ _It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope…which then turned into a quiet thought, which then turned into a quiet word…and then that word grew louder and louder, until it was a battle cry. I’ll come back when you call me. No need to say goodbye…_

“ _Just because everything’s changing doesn’t mean it’s not been this way before. All you can do is try to know who your friends are as you head off to the war. Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light. You’ll come back when it’s over. No need to say goodbye. You’ll come back when it’s over. No need to say goodbye…_ ”

She hummed the musical interlude softly, her swaying hips and slightly moving lips the only indication the song wasn’t over yet.

“ _Now we’re back to the beginning. It’s just a feeling that no one knows yet. But just because they can’t feel it too doesn’t mean that you have to forget. Let your memories grow stronger and stronger, until they’re before your eyes. You’ll come back when they call you. No need to say goodbye. You’ll come back when they call you. No need to say goodbye…_ ”

Hmm. More melancholy than what she’d been going for, but it certainly had the right sound to it, she noted to herself, wading back over towards the bank to fetch more body wash. (She was at serious risk of running out at this point. She’d have to remember to buy more in whatever universe she wound up in next. Oh, and shampoo and conditioner. Long thick hair like hers was an absolute _nightmare_ to have to wash and brush and maintain. But she’d always loved the mysterious and sexy look it gave her, so she wouldn’t dream of cutting it. Even if it _would_ save her a few bucks to have it shorter.) Maybe a different song…?

Her eyes glanced up of their own accord as she grabbed the almost empty bottle of body wash, connecting with G’s instantly. At first, she didn’t react – not because she was trying not to, but because she just didn’t have any response to his gaze. But as the gears of her mind whirred back to life, she gave him a look and held the bottle to her chest, throwing him a wink.

“See something you like?” she teased. She didn’t give him the chance to respond, and allowed him the small mercy of turning her back so she wouldn’t see his face. Still, she chuckled to herself, knowing exactly what his reaction would be: cheekbones flushed bright gold like she was becoming so fond of seeing. A stuttering and embarrassed mess of him trying to say…something. That silly and adorable thing he did where he scratched the back of his skull and averted his eyes. Since she was walking away, he would probably stay silent and elect to drape her tank top over his face again, but –

“yeah. but i’m more thinking about what i heard that i liked.”

It wasn’t until that moment that it clicked in her mind that he’d been _sitting right there the whole time while she was singing_. And worse, she realized, _this wasn’t even the first time he’d heard her sing_. She hadn’t cared in the moment the first time – she was too busy trying to get her message across to May – but now it hit her like a ton of bricks, and her face felt sunburned from the intensity of her blush. She whirled around to look at him again, panicking mind trying desperately to come up with something to say, but over the sound of the water, she didn’t hear the soft pop that would have told her he wasn’t there anymore. Her blush faded a little as she looked around and didn’t see any sign of the lanky skeleton monster.

Her cheeks darkened again, however, when her brain chose to remind her that even if he wasn’t in immediate sight, he’d still heard her singing. She groaned in utter mortification as she tried to clap her hands over her face. (Tried being the operative word – she forgot about the body wash in one hand and hit herself with it by mistake.) Having never banished her fear or anxiety of singing for an audience, she had been determined to make her sister the only one she would subject to the sound of her voice, since the little girl insisted she liked it. But first the Fell skeleton brothers, and now G…it seemed she was just destined to make a fool of herself any time she started singing in the Underground. (Note to self, she thought bitterly, _stop trying to sing in the Underground_.)

Sighing now that she was left to her own devices, she went back over to the waterfall and finished bathing, hoping the water would soothe her still superheated face (it didn’t). When she turned to wade back over and get out, G was back, the tank top back over his face, lounging like he hadn’t moved. She tried to resist the urge to let her cheeks darken again as she got an idea to get him back for the comment. She judged the weight of the bottle still in her hand, before hurling it at G – and hitting her target dead on, since he was blind-folded by the garment over his face and couldn’t see it coming. He cried out when it smacked against his skull, flinching forward and knocking the tank top off in one motion. He shot her an indignant look while he rubbed the spot the bottle of body wash hit, then quickly went wide-eyed (wide-eye-socketed?) when he realized she was standing there, hands on her hips, perfectly naked, without so much as the spray of the water to hide her now. His face flushed, and June had to restrain a downright evil grin from flitting across her features as vengence came swift and merciless. Instead, she managed to pretend that the whole singing incident hadn’t happened as well, relaxing her pose and gesturing to her bag.

“Bone boy! Mind getting a towel for me? There’s at least one in my bag somewhere. Should be rolled up real small.”

G all but jumped on the opportunity, going to digging through her bag instead of looking at her. She huffed quiet giggles at his embarrassment, idly wondering if the water covered the sound. (She quickly decided she didn’t care.) June just stood there, watching in amusement as G rooted through her bag for a towel (she hadn’t buried them _that_ far down when she’d last done laundry, had she?), simply observing as his face changed depending on what he had his hands on. The blush had all but faded after several seconds of searching, but would occasionally come rushing back, and he’d obviously force himself not to look up at her. Then there was the occasional look of confusion, followed by a shake of the head, and continued searching.

Once he finally found one, he lobbed the towel in her general direction, politely refusing to look at her. She had to smile as she climbed out of the water with the towel in hand, beginning to dry off.

“sure took a while.”

“I told you, I hadn’t showered in over a week. The dirt and shit was caked on pretty good. And if it were you, the only reason it wouldn’t have taken as long was because you don’t have hair to wash, too. So _water_ you complaining about?”

It took a second, but he started laughing at her pun, smoke trailing from a new cigarette between his fingers.

“heh. at least you didn’t leave me _high and dry_ for entertainment.”

June’s cheeks flushed, knowing he meant her singing. (Oh, if he started complimenting her, she would end a bitch. She could feel it.)

“Don’t start, you!” she blurted, yanking the towel around herself, suddenly self-conscious. “I will not tolerate one word about that awful noise I was making earlier! So _don’t. You. Start!_ ”

“whoa, geez, okay. take it easy, june. but i gotta ask…a voice like that…what made you hate something so…captivating?”

June snorted, a sharp and ugly sound, a frown twisting on her lips.

“My voice isn’t captivating. It’s horrendous. It’s too low. When I sing, it’s like gravel in a fucking blender. So like I said. Don’t start. I don’t wanna hear it.”

Silence descended, tense and uneasy. So much for her good mood, June thought bitterly. He was probably trying to think of something to say that would convince her she actually had a good voice. Fell had tried to do the same one night when she was still healing and laying on their couch. Why everyone saw the need to praise her for something she was so bad at, she never understood. Her art and designs were one thing. Hell, she could even take a compliment on her dancing, which she still wasn’t that confident about. But the singing was where she drew the line. As the silence stretched on, though, she began to relax, thinking that maybe he was actually going to let it go like she wanted.

“hey, listen…”

Or maybe not. She braced herself for whatever he was going to say and already had several comebacks ready for whatever argument he chose to use.

“i, uh…i didn’t mean to upset you. i get it if you’re sensitive about your singing. i should’ve picked up on that and left it alone. everyone’s entitled to a few insecurities. yours are mostly about your powers, and i happened to touch on the one that wasn’t. that’s my bad. so…sorry.”

June, having already finished toweling off her body, was mid-way through wrapping up her hair when he said this, and just stopped. After that initial freeze up, she quickly finished tying her hair up in the towel and turned to face him. G had his back to her (not that she was expecting any different at this point), but his head was turned just enough that he was more or less throwing his voice over his shoulder, even if he wasn’t turned enough to risk seeing her.

All the built up argument and emotion dissipated, leaving behind a vague sense of surprise and relief. He wasn’t going to fight her on it. After a moment, tender affection for him swelled in her heart, and it softened her expression, placing a small, sweet smile on her lips. She quickly went to her bag and pulled out clean underwear to put on before fetching her bra, fixing both into place before silently padding up behind the skeleton.

“uh, june?” was all G got out before she wrapped her arms around him, startling him. He instantly tensed, jumping at the unexpected contact, but relaxed some after a second or two of her hugging him.

“Thanks,” she whispered into his shoulder, waiting until he gently laid his hands on her arms (the only real way he could reciprocate the action in this position) to pull away. He started to turn to look at her, only to realize she was only in her underwear, and quickly turned back around. (Oh, that shade of yellow was becoming her new favorite color!) She laughed, shaking her head and going back to her bag to get out clean clothes.

Once she was dressed and had dried her hair (thank god for the flexibility of her powers), she had G put her bloody and filthy clothes in a separate pocket from the rest of her clothes, going herself to collect the bottles of body wash and hair care products. Once she had them and was turned back around, she saw a flash of confusion on G’s face – right before something silver rocketed out of her bag, hitting him square in the head. June gasped, dropping the bottles and rushing over to the skeleton now sprawled on the ground, holding where the thing had hit him and groaning.

Kneeling next to G, June looked for the object that had attacked him and caught it as it came back down from its unexpected flight. She huffed at the offending item, laying it carefully next to her and checking on G.

“You okay? That looked and sounded like it hurt.”

“shit fucking on a fucking stick…” he answered, slowly rolling to his side, but still holding his head. “what even…fucking shit that hurt. what the hell _was_ that?”

“My collapsible Bo staff,” June winced, reaching for her bag again. “I guess when you were putting the clothes away, you hit the button by mistake. I honestly forgot I even had it with me. I’m so sorry…”

“hold…hold up. collapsible what now?”

“Bo staff. It’s a type of weapon. Normally they’re made of wood or solid metal, but I designed one to be collapsible, for easier transportation. Making it was a pain in the ass, but I managed it. Again, I forgot I even had the damned thing. I’m so sorry, G.”

“quit that. apologizing. ‘s not your fault. but why do you have a weapon in the first place? and you’ve had it this whole time, but never bothered to use it?”

“I…I couldn’t bring everything with me when we left, so I had to choose which of my weapons to bring. The easiest to carry were the smaller weapons, like the staff, since it’s collapsible. And I took it because I didn’t know if I would need it or not. And the staff itself can be used for other things, so it was the best one to grab. As for not using it…like I said, I forgot I had it with me. But even if I did remember, I wouldn’t have used it. I prefer hand to hand combat, if it comes to that.”

“what else could you use it for?” he asked, sitting up now and picking up the item in question like it was going to jump up and hit him again. Finally, she found the slice of pie from Toriel and started unwrapping it before she answered.

“Well, for one, if you’re living out in the wild, with no machines or anything, it could be used as a drying pole for clothes. Or a pole to hold food over a fire to cook. Could also be used as a decent walking stick on a long hike or climb. For a weapon, it’s got several more innocent uses.”

G hummed in surprised agreement, laying the staff back down as June passed him the plate with the slice of pie on it.

“Toriel’s. Cinnamon-butterscotch.”

“wait, why are you giving this to me?”

“Because you’re starting to bruise from where my staff hit you. And I know how long it takes bruised bone to heal. That shit sucks ass. So eat up. You need it more than me.”

G looked surprised, then flinched when his fingers grazed the spot the staff had hit him. June winced in apology, but kept her mouth shut. He sighed and started eating, smiling as he ate. Clearly it tasted good. June was just happy to finally put the pie to use.

As he ate and recovered a little from the flying Bo staff thing, June grabbed the staff and pressed the button trigger to get the inner mechanisms to retract the ends. She watched the two ends slide back into the main shaft easily, then tucked the item back into her bag, mindful of the button. (Yeah, she knew it wasn’t really a good idea to keep weapons around monsters. But after all the trouble and effort to make it? She wasn’t just gonna throw it away. Especially since it was her one prototype, and the only in existence. Forget that noise. She was probably just gonna forget she had the damn thing all over again, anyway.) She then went back and wrangled the bottles she’d dropped earlier, stuffing them back into the bag as well, then finally settled on drying out her towel by hand (meaning using her powers – again) and finding a place for it in her bag.

Once she had her things settled again, June turned back to G to find him standing almost right behind her, the pie mostly finished. She sucked in a startled breath, but relaxed just as quickly, shooting the grinning skeleton a half-hearted glare.

“I won’t comment on the sneaking up behind me this time. Why didn’t you finish it?”

G just let his smile soften as he picked up the fork again and scooped out another bite, holding it out to her. She stared at it for a second in blank confusion, but when it registered what he wanted, she blushed a little and opened her mouth, leaning closer so he wouldn’t have to reach as far. He carefully fed her the bite of pie, and as soon as the taste hit her tongue, June couldn’t help the smile the wormed its way onto her face, or the blissful noise she made.

“Oh my god, that’s good…” she finally sighed once she swallowed the food.

“you want the rest, then?”

“Hell no. Not unless you’re totally healed from my staff attacking you of its own accord. S-mmm…” she trailed off, trying not to apologize again. G huffed in amusement, but shrugged and ate the last few bites anyway.

Finally, they set out again, a comfortable silence settling between them. After a while, though, June stopped, a frown on her face as she looked around.

“G, haven’t we been here before?”

“actually, i was thinking the same thing. i’m pretty sure we passed this room already.”

“We haven’t accidentally backtracked, have we?”

“don’t think so. you keep picking to walk in the opposite direction from where we’ve come, so we shouldn’t be backtracking at all. unless we’ve wandered into some sort of loop…”

“A loop would make sense. But then, why haven’t we found the exit by now?”

“we’re only just now noticing the loop,” G shrugged, “and we don’t know how big it is. but i will say…i’m pretty sure this is the third or fourth time we’ve been in the room. so i don’t think it’s all that big.”

June nodded, giving their surroundings a more critical eye.

“Noticed that too,” she added with a soft hum. “The first couple times, I thought it was me being an idiot because the scenery looked similar and I just wasn’t paying attention. Figures my aimless wandering would get us lost…”

G opened his mouth to protest that them being a little turned around wasn’t her fault, but she held up a hand to cut him off.

“Whatever. Now’s as good a time as any to stop and practice again with the blasters. I’ll aim at…that wall there. ‘Kay?”

G nodded, standing clear of her so she would have enough space to practice. She prepared herself, then went through the motions of the first couple steps, forcing herself to keep her eyes open this time. Who knows, maybe it _would_ help…and she’d practiced the first couple steps so many times by now, it was as easy as breathing (or using one of her normal powers).

Focus the magic, channel it…she almost lost her concentration noticing that her feet actually stayed on the ground this time, and her movements were all her own, rather than the magic trying to take off with her again. This felt like a step in the right direction. June smiled a little as the thought flitted through her mind, confidence seeping into her, strengthening her magic as she began to visualize the blaster in front of herself, moving her hands through the air as she traced its shape. Draw with your hands, don’t sculpt, a voice in the back of her head told her. That, she could do. Slowly but surely, the air before her began to shimmer as…something began to appear, and once she was sure she had it all “drawn”, she released the magic into it. Like finishing her drawing. Filling it with color and life.

When she opened her eyes again, she gaped at what hovered before her. It was a massive skull, easily as big as herself, if not bigger, and very animalistic in nature. It had long elegant horns that flared out from the back dramatically, and fangs that could have rivalled a sabre-tooth tiger. Those fangs looked wicked enough to rend a car in two with next to no trouble. Orange and blue eyes stared as her with an intensity that felt like it could ignite the very air around it, the magical eye lights bright and burning. And it somehow felt…protective. She felt a small thrill of fear at the discovery, but looking at the thing before her, she felt connected to it – more so than any of the others she’d conjured – and she felt safe. This thing could and would protect her, of that, she was sure.

Floating before her, somehow more regal and terrifying than any she’d seen from any Sans, was her very own Gaster Blaster. And was waiting on her for orders. Remembering what G said about how to make the blasters fire, she was careful on her movements, raising one hand slowly and beckoning to the skull. Without hesitation it glided closer to her, only stopping when she held her hand for it to do so. Then she slowly reached out and petted its bisected muzzle, it happily letting out a deep rumble that sounded almost like rolling thunder. It sounded (and felt, oh _shit_ that was weird) happy, so she smiled and pet it for another few seconds before lowering her hands and staring at the wall she was going to practice on.

Time for the real test. Now that she could successfully summon at least one Gaster Blaster that looked right, she had to see if she could fire it. The others before hadn’t been able to because there was always something wrong with their muzzles. But this one looked fine…she quickly glared at the wall, crushing any self-doubt…then smiled as an idea came to her. Why crush her self-doubt when she could pretend the wall before her was her self-doubt and crush that? The blaster seemed to pick up on her thoughts, swiveling in the air to face the wall she was looking at. Picking at the connection between her and the blaster, June sent it her intent with one clear instruction, as if it were over telepathy: destroy.

As the blaster powered up, June could feel her own magic building in response, reacting within her. It was like fire and lightning shooting through her veins, tingling at her hands and burning in her eyes. What she’d been doing with her magic so far, that was nothing compared to this. This was the real power behind what she could do. It was so strong and intoxicating and terrifying…and yet, she never felt more confident or in control. And all this came to her in the second or two span it took the blaster to power up.

A high hum cut through the quiet as she surfaced from her thoughts, the sound of the magic charged in the blaster. The air itself felt charged with power, and the magic was so thick, even June felt the slight restriction in her breathing. There was only the briefest of moments between when it was finished charging the attack and June pointed, her silent command instantly obeyed.

The Gaster Blaster fired, the beam of raw magic it unleased from its maw tinged slightly orange and blue in spots. It struck the exact spot she pointed to dead on, demolishing the stone and sending only the tiniest of particles flying away from the impact. Everything else was destroyed in the blast. The blast itself was short lived, but the duration of the attack didn’t matter. The sheer force of it was what sent shivers down G’s spine in a bout of near primal fear. The kind of havoc and destruction June could wreak with even just the one blaster if she wanted…a lesser person would have thought about it and probably gone on a rampage, killing and destroying mercilessly from just how invincible it made them feel. But her? She breathed a sigh of almost relief as she let her magic fade from existence, taking the blaster with it.

Sure, for a split second, she’d felt drunk on her own power. But she wasn’t going to let it corrupt her. She’d had all this power for so long, and it hadn’t gotten to her yet. She wasn’t going to let it now. And as she let go of her magic, she felt a little dizzy and drained, stumbling where she stood. But she caught herself before G could reach her, and a certain giddiness overcame the tiredness that settled into her.

“I did it…”

“what?”

“I did it. I did it!” she exclaimed, childish joy filling her as her voice climbed higher and louder. She wheeled on G, still chanting it, and threw her arms around him, letting herself go in her happiness. And it was infectious, G laughing with her as he picked her up and spun her around, proud. June had learned how to successfully make and fire a Gaster Blaster!

As G finally put her back on the ground, their foreheads touching gently, they both grinned at each other, a little breathless and giddy now.

“i knew you could do it, my little silver-tongued mage,” he murmured, June’s smile somehow stretching even wider.

“Silver…” she whispered back, much to his confusion.

“what?”

“Silver. That’s what you should call me. I like that name. Call me Silver.”

G grinned, catching on now.

“alright then. silver it is. and you…call me gold.”

June giggled, but agreed. If she didn’t call him Gold, it was Goldie (a bit of a tease, sure, but it certainly worked for this).

Then the moment finally seemed to wear off, and they separated, both blushing. June mumbled an apology for getting carried away, G repeated one in his own words, neither one looking at each other for a minute. Then June glanced over at where she’d had the blaster fire.

Honestly, she’d been expecting there to be a crater or something marking the spot, since she thought she was hitting solid rock. But instead, she could see what appeared to be metal just beyond the stone, and beyond the layer of metal she’d blasted through…darkness. Yet, she felt as if just looking into the darkness beyond was calling to her, and she took a couple involuntary steps towards the hole in the wall.

“G?” she practically whispered, “What’s on the other side of this wall?”

He looked over and saw what she was looking at, alarms blaring in his head at the sight.

“i don’t know. there shouldn’t be anything on the other side…”

June wandered still closer, her curiosity getting the better of her for once, with G right behind her. The hole was big enough for them both to step through at the same time, so they did, and the lights in the space around them began to glow in their presence. As they got a better look at their surroundings, G knew exactly where they were.

The loop they’d been circling in for a while had been a loop created to go around the Core. And June had somehow blasted a hole right through the wall and into the damn thing.

"Jqna ujkv...yg hqwpf kv..." G breathed as they looked around, to which June turned to him with a confused expression.

“What’s that, Goldie?”

“nothin’ sorry, just…shit. we finally did it. we found the core…”

“Wha-? _How?_ ”

“i don’t know, silver. but when you blasted that wall, it busted through into here. we’re here. we did it.”

June…had very mixed feelings about this. She was happy that they found it – it meant their journey was over. She could charge her device and go find her sister. But it also meant their journey _together_ was over. The thought brought a certain heaviness to her heart, and she wanted to reach for him and never let go. But she kept these feelings to herself, instead muttering, “Yeah, but it shouldn’t be this dark…right?”

“yeah, no, you’re right. this place should be lit up right about now. it got brighter when we stepped in, but…”

“So what’s wrong with it?”

“not sure. but keep your eyes peeled. you’ve still gotta charge that thing.”

June nodded, not bothering to correct him about the watch. They’d already been over that, and she didn’t want to fight right now. So together they combed the room, searching for…well, June wasn’t sure what, exactly, but she had a feeling she’d know it when she saw it. Not finding anything in this room, they agreed to search elsewhere. When the next room held nothing for them, they searched the next, and the next, until they just got into a rhythm. That is, until G stopped June from marching into the next room so quickly.

“What’s up, G?”

“i know this room. we’ll have to be more careful in this one. it’s the main control room. stuff in there’s pretty sensitive, so don’t touch anything…more than you haven’t already.”

June nodded, an uneasy feeling settling in her gut. They had purposely not been touching anything so far, and if they needed to move something, they used their magic to do so. But for the extra warning…the second she stepped in, something in the air felt off. They gave each other a look, then nodded, sticking closer together in this room than any other.

“It’s so creepy all dark and quiet like this…”

“no kidding. the power controls should be on this panel here…”

June nodded, her eyes falling on the metal pedestal before her. There were so many buttons and levers and switches and lights…how on earth did anyone know how to work this damn thing? After shifting her eyes off the panel, she traced several cables through the darkness leading to and from something in the center of the room. And something off to one side, slightly away from the control panel, glowed softly. Oh, she knew that glow. It was the monitor for a computer screen.

“This…looks complicated as hell,” she huffed, a laugh escaping before she could stop it as she gestured to the panel before them. G chuckled beside her, then looked when she pointed to the monitor. “But what’s that?”

“not sure. let’s look.”

They wandered away from the panel and up to the computer, G reaching for the controls. June had a bad feeling about him touching the controls, and she almost reached out to yank his hand away on an instinct. He seemed to sense it too, though, because he stopped himself before his hand even got that close. She breathed a tiny sigh of relief, but the foreboding feeling in the air didn’t dissipate. Something was definitely not right.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” June finally made herself say, reaching past G for the controls. “Let’s see what this thing does.”

Every instinct June had was screaming at her to stop and back away from the machine before her, but she swallowed them all and kept moving her hand forward – until G grabbed it and pulled her away, drawing her close against himself. She suddenly felt much safer, but was still surprised that he’d reacted the same way she almost had just seconds before.

“wait, wait, wait, wait. let’s…not be hasty about this. look, i’ve got a really bad feeling about this, like there’s something wrong here. i don’t think you touching literally anything in this room is a good idea.”

“Oh good, thank god. I was thinking the same for you when you almost touched it. I’ve felt it since we walked in here. _Fuck_ , that feeling just won’t go away. I…ugh, what are we supposed to do? If we can’t touch anything, we can’t power the damn thing up and figure out what the hell’s wrong with it.”

“you noticed it too, good…” he breathed, then looked at her seriously. “i don’t know how we’re gonna get this to work, but…i feel like…ugh, _shit_ , this is gonna sound corny. there’s something i need to tell you.”

“Oh Jesus, G, don’t. Don’t say that. A, that’s super fuckin’ cliché.”

“i’m being serious here, june.”

“So am I, so let me finish. A, super fuckin’ cliché. B, just…don’t. Don’t say that. Especially not like that. I feel it too, believe me, I do, and this…this isn’t the last time we’re gonna see each other. I mean, yeah, once I get this damn thing working again I’ll have to leave, but this isn’t it. This isn’t over for us. I don’t want it to be. So don’t…don’t say it like that. This isn’t the end. I refuse to let it be. This-this isn’t _goodbye_.”

G smiled a little, but it looked sad.

“doesn’t change the fact that i’ve still got something to say. so ya gonna let me say it?”

June held her breath and nodded, looking up at him with shining eyes holding back her emotions.

“good. what i was gonna say…i’ve…i’ve had feelings for you from the moment i first saw you. and by that, i mean i instinctively wanted to help you and make sure you didn’t fucking die down here when i saw you falling through the air.” This got a laugh out of her, so G waited until she was done to continue. “but more than that…after you told me everything about you and your sister and this big mission you two are on…i was attracted to you in a way that even frisk didn’t compare to. and as we worked together to find the core, and we talked and fought and you worried about your sister, and i tried to help, and the thing with the fucking echo flowers, and error…i knew that there was something else. and it took seeing your Soul, touching it, for me to realize…i care about you so much more than i first thought. and given that i generally don’t give a shit about much, to say that i do about you…it honestly kinda scares the hell out of me. and i don’t want this to be the last we see of each other either, because i don’t know that i can take being down here without you anymore. but i know i can’t keep you here. you’ve got your sister relying on you, waiting for you somewhere…and considering what i saw with error, you’ve got a lot of other people relying on you, too. the multiverse needs you. but as big as all that is…is it…would it be too much to hope that maybe…”

June wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her, kissing him roughly. (He wasn’t that much taller than her, but she did still have to look up slightly to look him in the eye, after all.) The skeleton went rigid, not expecting her to do that, but melted against her from the passion of the kiss. When she finally pulled away, she swiped at the tears trailing down her cheek at his words.

“Of course, you numbskull. I’m not gonna forget about you after I leave, ya know. Once we get this settled, I’ll come back. I’ll come back and visit, and we can talk, and…god, now _I’ve_ got something to tell _you_. I’ve been attracted to you, too. This whole fucking time. Don’t laugh, I’m being serious!”

“but you’re laughing too!”

“Shut the fuck up! Let me finish! Did I interrupt you? That’s what I thought,” she added with a playful swat to his chest. “Anyway, I…at first, I thought I cared because you were my friend. I don’t trust easily, but I trusted you because I knew you. Or, that’s what I thought. But with everything, I was so scared I was gonna run you off, or you’d get sick of me and all my baggage and leave like everyone else. But you never did, and you just kept proving yourself and kept staying and…and then the Soul thing…and it made me realize that I…care for you, too. More than I’ve ever felt for anyone else. And I was thinking about this earlier, and I…I don’t want to leave you behind. You shouldn’t be here alone. I know I’ve got responsibilities, but for once, I want to be selfish and say no. I want to be so selfish and just stay or find a way I can bring you with me because I don’t want to leave you here, and I’m…torn. If you’d rather stay and wait for me, I understand…hell, it’s a better plan than what I obviously had in mind. And if you do, I’ll come and visit you as often as I can, and call you from the watch…I just…wish this didn’t have to be this way.”

G looked at June with such affection, she thought she might start crying again, and he whispered back, “stars above, babe…silver…”

Then there was an ominous noise, and his arms tightened around her as they both jumped.

“The fuck was –”

But before she could finish her sentence, the Core began to light up, reacting to something. At the same time, the whole place shook, the room beginning to crumble around them. An invisible force pushed the two of them apart, lifting them both up and enveloping them in light as bits of the ceiling rained down on them.

“G?!”

“i don’t know what’s going on! the core’s never done this before!”

“It’s – we’re – we’re about to jump! Between the universes! I know what the light is! _Aah!_ ”

June screamed as a jolt of electricity and magic shot up her arm suddenly, G calling out to her in return.

“I’m alright. Something just zapped me. But I don’t know where we’re going! If we end up getting separated, just stay calm. I’ll find you again. I…I promise. I swear to god, I _will_ find you again, G!”

“june, wait! i –”

Whatever G had been about to say was drowned out by the both of them crying out from being blinded by the light from the forced jump. The ravenette and the lanky skeleton had both vanished mere seconds before the entire room collapsed where they’d been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Gaster Translation:** "Holy shit...we found it..."
> 
> Original title for the chapter: "The Ship Sails".
> 
> So, I originally hadn't planned on G and June being a thing when I started writing the chapters for this ages ago, but...well, sometimes, my writing has a mind of its own. And this is one of the many times I'm glad it does. But anyway, we're finally out of Underlevel and Echotale! On to the next set of universes! Oh, and before I forget, if anyone wants to listen to the song June was singing in this one, it's [The Call](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3O8yhOmJFA) by Regina Spektor. Now, I hope you all enjoyed this one, and we'll see you next week for more! -S


	46. Nice Cream Guy Gets a Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings for this chapter, guys. :) Have fun! -S

May screamed as she fell through the air – but her cry was cut off as she hit something hard. Rebounding off the thing, she flailed her arms for something, anything to stop herself from falling further, and her efforts were rewarded with tree branches scratching her. She quickly made herself latch on to one and stop her momentum, a noise of pain escaping her as she then dangled from the branch.

She took a minute to try and catch her breath and take in her surroundings, but all she could see was the pine tree she found herself in and a few matching trees around her. She did her best to swing around and climb up on top of the branch, but she couldn’t find a solid grip for her toes, and she suddenly wished she’d taken gymnastics alongside her dancing – then at least she would know how to pull herself up on to the branch without using her legs. Finally giving up on try to pull herself up, she huffed out an annoyed and slightly pained breath before looking around again.

Pine trees…the only place in the Underground that had those was Snowdin and the forest between the town and the Ruins. Not many people were out here, but there was still a chance that there’d be someone close enough to hear her if she was loud enough…being left without many other options, May sucked in a deep breath and called for help as loudly as she could. A voice as shrill as hers, it would travel a ways. Surely someone would hear her and help her down…

Sure enough, right after she screamed for help again, a voice answered her.

“I heard ya the first time, kid. Geez, you’re loud. You okay up there?”

“Oh thank god…no, I’m not. I’m stuck. I can’t see to get down, and I can’t climb up onto the branch. Can you please help me down?”

“Sure thing, kid. Just _hang in there_ for a sec.”

May snorted at the pun, replying, “Kinda don’t have a choice, here.” Her tone betrayed her amusement, despite the nature of her words.

A second later, the tree creaked and shifted some, causing her to tighten her grip and whimper a little in fright. A fall from being near the top of the tree like this would _not_ end well for her, healing magic or no. Then she heard the helpful voice chuckle, significantly closer to her than before.

“You can open your eyes. You’re not gonna fall.”

May’s eyes flew open as she looked at the branch slightly above hers and saw another human child, not much older than herself (if at all). The kid had pale skin; rosy cheeks; and a short brown bob, and wore a black pants; red boots; and a white shirt underneath a green hoodie. What caused May to gasp in surprise was the kid’s eyes – they were a very familiar blood red.

As shocked as May was, she didn’t have the chance to voice it, as the familiar child reached down for her hand.

“Hold on to me. I know a shortcut.”

She instinctively grasped the offered hand, closing her eyes. Ah, geez…it’d been so long since she’d been teleported, she’d almost forgotten what it felt like. But the weightlessness passed quickly enough, May’s eyes snapping open again as she sucked in a breath of surprise – only to let it out in a great _oof_ when she landed face-down in a snowdrift. She heard the same laugh from before as she clamored out of the snowdrift, her eyes locking on to the other child again.

“Chara?” May asked hesitantly once she was on her feet again. The crimson-eyed child looked at her in surprise.

“Whoa. Creepy, kid. How d’ya know who I am? Have we met before?”

“I…yes. You don’t remember?” She couldn’t keep the dismayed tone from her voice if she’d wanted to, and Chara winced, shaking their head.

“Afraid not, kiddo. Sorry. But it looks like you’ve got me at a disadvantage, here. So who are you?”

“I’m…I’m May. Wow, I’m actually super disappointed. Like, it’s not your fault, but…ouch. And here I thought only Sans, Gaster, and Papyrus don’t remember us…”

Chara’s eyes widened when she mentioned Sans, stepping a little closer.

“Whoa, wait just a minute, missy. Sans…you know ‘im? But he won’t remember you, just like me?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately. It’s a skeleton monster thing. Although why _you_ don’t know me, I have no idea…”

“Huh. Better not let the king see you, then, if he’s not gonna remember knowing you.”

May looked at Chara in confusion.

“The king? But I’ve never met Asgore.”

Chara looked at May like she was crazy.

“I wasn’t talking about Asgore.”

“But he’s the king. And you said –”

“Kid, I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but Asgore is _not_ the king. Sans is.”

May’s jaw dropped in shock.

“Wha-? But-but that’s…so who _is_ Asgore?”

“The Royal Scientist.”

“But Alphys…”

“Who?”

“Oh geez…I think I need to sit down. This is…”

Chara looked mildly concerned for May as she plopped down in the snow where she stood, the cold feeling wonderful on her still aching limbs.

“You okay there, kid?”

“Just…this is a lot to process. So let me get this straight. Sans is Asgore, Asgore is Alphys, Alphys is…someone you don’t know, and…wait. Who does that make you…?”

“Okay, you’re weird, even for a human. I’m gonna just back away now…”

“Oh, wait! I’m sorry! Look, I know none of that made like any sense, but I’m just…not used to this. Everyone isn’t who they’re…who they usually are. The way I know them, anyway. That’s why I’m so confused. But that’s not the point. I need to ask you something, Chara, and I need you to be real with me when I ask this: have you seen an alternate version of King Sans around? His clothes are mostly black, he’s got what looks like blue tear-tracks down his face, his eyes are red and yellow and blue, he’s really glitchy, surrounded by error messages?”

Chara stared at May, looking more and more weirded out by the second. Eventually, the crimson-eyed kid shook their head, and May looked frustrated.

“Drat. Well, could you keep an eye out for him? I need to find him right away. He’s really dangerous, and I followed him here to try and stop him. But it looks like that sneaky little skelly is hiding out somewhere…” May chewed her lip in thought, a serious look of concentration clashing with her usual pixie-cuteness. As she started to wander off, Chara grabbed her arm, leveling her with a look of their own.

“Okay, kid – you may be weird, but if you’re saying what I think you are, you need to start explaining. Now.”

May pulled out of Chara’s grip in annoyance.

“Ugh, you act just like Sans – wait. Oh! Oh, that explains so much!” May realized, her eyes locking on to Chara again. “I think I get it! Everyone’s roles got switched! You’re Sans, Sans is Asgore, Asgore is Alphys, Alphys is…someone else, obviously…so then, who are Papyrus, Undyne, and Toriel switched with?”

Chara just let her ramble, completely lost. And when she asked questions, Chara didn’t even try to answer – they didn’t need to, evidently. But once she stopped, they thought it best to interject.

“Uh, I can’t answer for who this Papyrus character is, but Undyne is Asgore’s invention. She’s the only thing the Underground’s got in the way of celebrities…besides King Sans, of course. And I’m sure Asgore could be one, if he wasn’t so shy. And would quit locking himself in his lab. But whatever. Anyway, Toriel is the Captain of the Royal Guard. So in her own way, she’s a celebrity, too. But none of them are like Undyne.”

“Whoa, hold on. So Toriel is Undyne here…that’s _weird_. And Undyne…I have no idea who she’s switched with. As for Papyrus, if I had to guess…he’s probably Toriel. God, this universe is freakin’ weird.”

“Universe? The heck are you talkin’ about?”

“Well…hoo boy. I kinda have a lot to try and explain, here. Mind if we go somewhere warmer while I explain?”

Chara nodded, waving the ravenette to follow them back towards town. (Snowdin forest – she knew it.) On the way, she explained the multiverse theory to them the best she could (she wasn’t a scientist, after all), then seemed to blow their mind by telling them that it wasn’t just a theory. And that she was proof. She then went on to explain everything that had happened to her and June up to Chara finding her in that tree. By the time she was finished, Chara had taken her up to Leverett’s (clearly this universe’s Grillby’s) and was sitting with her at the bar, the Nice Cream they’d ordered for the two of them forgotten.

“Stars above…stars frick-frackin’ above, kid! That’s…that’s a lot to take in…and you _lived_ all that…stars above…”

“Why does everyone in the Underground say that?” May asked suddenly, scrunching up her nose in a very cute fashion.

“Huh? Oh, well…uh, welp, being human too, I guess I’m the best to explain. The monsters don’t have religion. They don’t believe in any kind of god or gods. To them, the mythos they believe in is the stars. That, and other things from the surface, but mostly the stars. That’s why we say ‘stars’ instead of ‘Jesus’ or something.”

“Oh. That makes sense. And that’s actually really sad…”

Chara nodded, still mulling over May’s tale.

“Hey, kiddo!” the monster behind the counter, a blue rabbit, smiled over at May. It took her a second, but she realized that the blue monster was actually the Nice Cream vendor from the other universes. He recognized her because she’d gotten a Nice Cream literally every time she saw him. “Bit of a surprise to see you here with Chara, but it’s still good to see you.”

“You too! Sorry we didn’t get to say hi properly a minute ago. Kinda in the middle of a long story and had to finish it.”

“So I heard. You really know how to spin quite the yarn, kiddo. Oh, but you know, I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced! Name’s Leverett.”

May hummed happily and murmured the rabbit-man’s name a few times to memorize it.

“Okay, I’ll remember. I’m Mayflower. Mayflower Elizabeth Skies. But everyone calls me May!”

Leverett laughed, her enthusiasm and cheer infectious.

“Well alright then, May. Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. You and Chara yell if you need anything else, ‘kay kiddos?”

May nodded with a bright smile, then turned her attention back to Chara. The other child was just staring at her.

“What?”

“I know you said that you were proof about the multiverse theory being true, but…actually, that was proof right there. Because I can guarantee you have never set foot in this building before today, have never even met Leverett before, but right there. He already knew who you were. That shouldn’t be possible. And yet. This…this is all pretty weird…and in all the other universes, King Sans isn’t king? He’s…more or less _me?_ ”

“Yep. But it gets weirder,” May nodded, munching on her Nice Cream some. (The monster food was doing wonders for her sore body!) “So all that stuff I was saying before about this person being that person? That was me connecting the dots in my head. In this universe – yours – you take Sans’ place as a sentry in Snowdin. You like puns, you’re lazy, you sleep a lot, you live here in town, you’re a regular here at…uh, Leverett’s. But every other Sans I’ve met is like that instead. They’re lazy. They like puns. They sleep a lot, they live in Snowdin with their brother Papyrus, they’re a regular at their version of Leverett’s called Grillby’s…you see what I’m getting at?”

“Yeah. And it’s freaky. So who does King Sans take the place of in the other timelines?”

“Asgore. That’s why I thought he was the king here.”

“Right, right. That…makes sense now. And you said I was…that the only other time we’ve met, I…I killed you?”

“Yeah. I kind of quit keeping track after about the tenth time you killed me, but it was a lot. But you were different in that timeline. And I still managed to be your friend. I forgave you for killing me, even though you didn’t want to forgive yourself. You…you and the kid did a lot of bad stuff in that timeline. But you guys were gonna to fix it, so it’s okay.”

Chara looked rather disturbed by the thought. They shook it off, though, and returned their attention to the little girl.

“And all this time, you’ve been chasing after this alternate version of the king because he wants to destroy all the alternate universes and timelines. So you came here to find him and stop him, right?”

“Yep. In a nutshell,” she replied, slurping at the last of her Nice Cream.

“But he hasn’t had much time to influence my universe if he only just got here.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” May corrected, shaking her head. “Because of all the Loads from fighting you and the other human kid, I ended up losing some time. And Error can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time…assuming he was here during that time. I know at least two points in time where he wasn’t, but I can’t be sure of the rest of it. Either way, I don’t want to chance it. So, I have to ask – has there been anything going on that’s out of the ordinary? Besides me, I mean.”

Chara thought about it a minute, then a look of realization dawned on their face.

“I think I know what he’s done. I don’t know how, but I think he’s manipulating everyone into fighting. But it’s only in pairs. Asgore is fighting with Toriel, Leverett’s fighting with Burgerpants – he’s this cat monster…never mind. I’ll explain later. And I’ve been fighting with my brother. I mean, those aren’t the only ones, but…”

“Oh! I think I get it! The pairs that got switched around…Error’s somehow getting you guys to fight in your pairs. He’s trying to drive you guys apart and destroy your timeline that way. How that’s supposed to work, I have no idea, but whatever. Let me check something real quick.”

Before Chara could say anything, May sucked in a breath and channeled her magic, focusing on her purple. Chara was startled to see the girl’s eyes glint with her magic, the purple half much brighter than the green. Then it seemed that May was staring into some kind of middle distance, looking at something Chara couldn’t see. Then she released the breath she’d held with a grim look.

“Just as I thought. Like I mentioned before, back with Outer and Fell. Error has the ability to use his strings to manipulate and control people. In Fell, he suppressed their magic. In Outer, he forced everyone into combat with each other. Here, he’s making you guys fight in your pairs.”

“How can you tell?”

“I saw them. The strings. He’s got you. And don’t bother looking for them. Only people with purple magic can see them. Otherwise they’re invisible. And he can control them remotely, so trying to follow them back to him won’t do much good. He could be anywhere right about now and still be able to make you guys fight.”

“So then what are we supposed to do?”

May smiled, laying down some money for their Nice Creams and taking Chara’s hand to lead them out of the Nice Cream parlor.

“You let me worry about that. For now, let’s go somewhere where no one will freak out if I use magic.”

Chara nodded, thoroughly confused and suspicious, but let the freckled ravenette lead them out of the building. Better to stick with her for now than let her wander around on her own…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Credit to the Creator:** This time we've got [voltrathelively's Storyshift](https://www.reddit.com/r/Storyshift/comments/48o6j7/storyshift_shift_one_segments/)!


	47. Since When Do Monsters Need Guns?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, gang! No warnings or Gaster text this chapter, so no need for a heads-up. Enjoy, gang! -S

June was surprised to find that she wasn’t falling through the air after a jump for once – it had been a while since the last time that happened. She immediately turned around to look for G, half hoping he was warped to wherever she was. No such luck.

“Damn…” she muttered in a sigh under her breath. But before she could think of a next step, she got a bad feeling and glanced around again, this time paying more attention to her surroundings. She appeared to be in some sort of warehouse, crates and things stacked high all around. But her instincts weren’t wrong (they rarely were), as she heard footsteps approaching, and the telltale sound of a gun being cocked.

Part of her screamed “run”, at the sound. At this proximity, depending on the type of gun and caliber of bullets, she might not have time once the person rounded the corner to get her flame on and melt the bullets before they hit her. And even she could only move so fast with her telekinesis, so throwing up a shield was next to useless, as was picking them up and throwing them with either telekinesis or her blue magic. Maybe now was the best time to make use of her new Gaster Blasters? But would she have the time to summon one? It took her longer than any version of Sans or Gaster, that much she knew, making her vulnerable up until she had it summoned. And it wasn’t like – oh wait, she _did_ have a weapon on her. But she couldn’t reach it, dammit! What else?

As a shadow began to loom ahead of her, June took a slow, silent, involuntary step back, then another. Then it occurred to her – as long as they didn’t see her, she was safe, right? She yanked a pen out of her back pocket and uncapped it, scribbling “chameleon” on the inside of her arm and channeling her power through the word. Please work, please work, please work, please work…

Just as the shadow rounded the corner, gun raised, June closed her eyes, held her breath, and stood absolutely still, afraid that even the slightest twitch would give her away. There was silence for a beat or two, then the sound of bone lightly scraping bone.

“what the…?”

“I TOO, AM CONFUSED, BROTHER!”

The two familiar voices almost made June drop her concentration…but given that she still felt that she was in danger, she continued to stand stock still, not even risking opening her eyes to get a look at the two.

“I COULD HAVE SWORN I HEARD SOMEONE SWEARING FROM OVER HERE!”

“same here. that’s weird…” Sans’ words were accompanied by a clicking sound similar to the gun being cocked, so June guessed one of them had taken it out of ready position. But…she’d only seen the one approaching her…and Papyrus’ voice sounded like it was coming from behind her. Oh, whatever. As long as they didn’t try to walk through the space she was standing in, she’d be fine.

“c’mon, paps. let’s do another perimeter sweep, just in case.”

“SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD PLAN, BROTHER!”

“Oof!”

Oh, just her fucking luck. Of course Papyrus, coming from behind her, had tried to walk through what he thought was a vacant space between the crates. But since she was standing there and didn’t dare move, blink, or breathe, he’d run right into her, knocking her towards Sans. She stumbled and caught herself, losing her focus and reappearing. Well, so much for that. Her head snapped up at the sound of the gun cocking again, and all she could focus on was the weapon in her face.

Handgun, her brain supplied helpfully, the strategic side of her mind switching on. With a silencer. They didn’t want their kills to be heard. And if she had to guess, it was either a .32 or a .45 caliber handgun. Either way, it was doing some serious damage if fired. And she definitely didn’t have time for any of her other means of protection. At this range, retaliation wasn’t an option. Move too fast, bullet between the eyes. Powers or magic, _definite_ bullet between the eyes. Disarming one meant leaving herself open to attack from the other – and she had no idea what Papyrus was packing weapon wise. Hell, maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he would just use his magic attacks. But either way, she was currently totally screwed.

“SANS! IS THIS…A HUMAN?!”

“looks like it, bro. but what they’re doing and how they got here, i have no idea.”

“WE SHOULD PROBABLY TAKE THEM TO OLD BOSS. SHE’LL KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEM!”

Sans grunted in agreement, gesturing with his other hand for her attention. Now that her eyes weren’t trained on the weapon still being pointed at her, she got a decent look at Sans – and her eyebrows raised in surprise. The smaller skeleton stood before her in a white button-up with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, a suit vest, black slacks, and black dress shoes. While not particularly formal, it was probably as close as the lazier skeleton was going to get, and she almost let out an appreciative whistle. Damn, he looked good in this outfit.

“alright, human. quit sizing me up and come with us. you’ve got a bit of explaining to do.”

“Alright, Z. Z. Top,” she answered before she could stop herself, then snickered at her own joke. “Uh, sorry. Famous song by that band is called ‘Sharp Dressed Man’. You made me think of it.”

Sans had quirked a brow bone at her answer, but now that he knew it was her being a sassy little shit, he had to stop a little smirk of his own.

“ah. so i take it you like what you see?”

June reigned in a smirk of her own, despite the gun aimed at her.

“Line from that song, bone boy: ‘every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp dressed man.’”

Sans chuckled, walking backwards and beckoning her to follow him. With Papyrus behind her, she didn’t have much of a choice of where to go, so she obeyed.

“so then, human. what brings you down to our little corner of the world?”

“Oh, not much. Just chasing a psychopathic interdimensional being to keep him from destroying the multiverse while looking for my little sister. The usual.”

Sans stopped walking, staring at her incredulously. She stopped as well, glancing over her shoulder at Papyrus to make sure he wouldn’t run into her again. And now that she could actually see the tall skeleton, she noticed he, too, was wearing a white button-up with rolled up sleeves, black slacks, and black dress shoes…though Papyrus had added gloves, and substituted the vest for suspenders. As good as Sans looked – _damn_ did Papyrus look _good_. Now she couldn’t help herself, giving a low appreciative whistle at the taller skeleton brother and a flirty smile.

“Damn, you skeletons really know how to clean up. I’ll have to remember that.”

“hold the fuck up. what do you mean by…literally all of what you just said?”

June blinked, then sighed. Okay, maybe not her best attempt at humor. But as she opened her mouth to answer him, the ground below them shifted, and a low rumble filled the air. The tattooed teen quickly changed her stance to stay on her feet, looking around for the source as the two skeletons wobbled and fell at the unexpected shaking.

“Earthquake..?” she mumbled, unsure. She’d never heard of a noise like that happening during an earthquake…but she’d also never been underground when and earthquake hit. But Sans managed to get his feet under him again and started helping Papyrus up, his gun holstered at his hip for the moment.

“not an earthquake,” was all he got out before an explosion rocked the building they were in, knocking all of them to the ground again.

Then it was absolute chaos. June tried to get up quickly, but a pair of boney hands hauled her up and into the air before she could regain her balance, carrying her to cover. (With her track record, she wouldn’t be surprised if it was Papyrus who picked her up.) Once she was tossed to the ground again, she tried to get up and see what had caused the explosion, but when she peeked around the corner of their cover, gunfire rang out. June felt the bullets narrowly miss her head more than saw them and yelped in fear, jumping back so hard, she wound up on her ass again. Then people in suits running into the room caught her attention. Namely, Undyne and a handful of other monsters, coming to help. Undyne ran right over to the two skeletons with a big grin as the other monsters scattered among what cover they could find.

“Told you I’d need these pants today!! I KNEW IT!!” the fish monster, dressed in much more casual army fatigues, shouted excitedly to them before dashing off. Before long, June could hear the sounds of a firefight beginning, but she could only sit there in stunned silence.

“What is she talking about?” she asked the brothers, but only Papyrus turned to answer her.

“THOSE ARE THE PANTS SHE KEEPS HER GRENADES IN!!” was the answer she got before the taller skeleton turned and joined the fray with his bone club. June finally managed to get to her feet, but was even more confused. For fuck’s sake! This was absolute madness!

“She’s a fucking fish-monster with magic fucking spears!” June shouted, more to herself than to Sans. “Why the hell does she need grenades?! And why do _you_ need a _weapon?!_ You have fucking teleportation and bone attacks and blue magic and _Gaster Blasters!_ None of this makes any fucking sense!”

“okay, listen human,” Sans said, grabbing her arm and yanking her down to his level to get her to stop. “i don’t know how you know any of that, or who the hell you think you are, but we don’t have time to discuss it now. i have a gun because it concentrates my blue magic into the bullets, which it then fires. it’s much stronger than sending out a white attack against these other monsters. undyne uses grenades because it’s an explosion of concentrated magic, which is really damn potent. that, and she likes it when things blow up.”

“Oh,” June replied, instantly calming down when she had a rational explanation for it. “So magic weapons. That…makes a lot of sense, actually.”

Sans let her go once she calmed and went back to shooting from their bit of cover as June thought to herself.

“Too bad I don’t have something like that. Oh! Wait, I _do_ have a – nope, never mind. Not using it. Gotta be a better way…is there anything I can do to help?”

“normally i’d question why you wanna help, but right now, i don’t care. what can you do?”

“A lot,” June replied, and to Sans’ look, she sighed and raised her hands. “Here, I’ll show you want I mean. It’s faster.”

With that, a small idea formed in June’s mind and she ran with it, forming ice over one arm and fire on the other. She then took a breath and concentrated it, putting her hands together and pointing her middle and index fingers out, as if forming the barrel of a gun with her fingers. As a small flame split off from the tips of her pointing fingers, she looked around for something to aim at that wouldn’t actually hurt anyone. Spotting a promising crate, she increased the size of the flame slightly, then formed a ball of ice around it and shrunk it down to increase the pressure. Then, swiveling to aim at her chosen crate, Sans’ eye lights followed her with a shocked expression.

June brought her thumbs down against her hands, mimicking the action of a gun hammer striking as it fired and murmured, “Bang,” shooting the little projectile at the crate. It flew as fast as any bullet, and when it struck the crate, the wooden box exploded, showering the enemies near it in debris. June then pointed her joined hands at the ground, as if she were actually holding a firearm, and examined them in a very analytical manner.

“Ya know, I’ve only ever thought to combine these two powers once before.”

“ya don’t say…” Sans muttered, edging away from her slightly. Then, ignoring his comment and extreme discomfort with her, she shook her head to herself.

“Too destructive. No matter what my intent is, that’s gonna kill somebody. I like my LV were it is, thank you very much.”

With that, she de-linked her hands, and Sans almost visibly relaxed. She then jumped out from behind their cover and fired a volley of icicles and fireballs at the attacking monsters, then ducked back before any of them could hit her with their own attacks. When she glanced at him again, she could swear he looked paler than before. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he spoke first.

“how the hell…your stats…”

Oh. Well, her Stats were ridiculously high. It made sense that he’d Checked her after that little display and was hung up on the numbers.

“If I could explain now, buddy, I would. I’ll have to tell ya later. Ya know, when we’re not at risk of becoming Swiss cheese? And speaking of, any idea why these guys are attacking?”

“if i knew, i would have known they were coming, and we wouldn’t have been here to catch you before they did.”

“Helpful. Think anyone else would know anything?”

“dunno. you’d have to ask them. is this really the time?”

They were talking between bursts of shooting at the enemy, so no, this really wasn’t the time for conversation. But gathering intel and adapting her strategy to counter was what she did best, so she just sighed and braced herself. She may not have super speed, but with a bit of luck and clever aim, she could make it over to where Undyne was (happily chucking grenades at the enemy this whole time from behind her cover).

She took her first couple steps to bolt from the cover, despite Sans’ protests, when she saw a silver cylindrical object land right in her path – and right in the center of the cluster of monsters. She recognized it immediately.

“ _Flash-bang!_ ” she screamed, diving to try and shield Sans so he wouldn’t be affected. But too late. The stun grenade went off, getting the entire group and allowing the enemies to advance. In a rush of movement and muffled sound, they wove among the incapacitated monsters, and a few ran past, their target clearly being elsewhere. June staggered and stumbled around, but used her strength to force her body to adapt faster, her hearing and vision clearing before anyone else’s. When she saw the few that had run past coming back a few seconds later, she growled and launched herself at the closest attacker.

The armed monster dropped their weapon and the little body they had slung over their shoulder in surprise, taking to wrestling with her for a minute. She managed to do some real damage to them and several of the other monsters that tried to help their comrade, until someone thought to slam the butt of their gun across the side of her head, almost striking her temple. She squawked in pain and fell limp for a split second, dazed as she watch black spots explode across her vision.

“Two humans? And this one’s got magic or somethin’…heh, the bosses’ll love that. Bring her, too. But we can’t have ‘er fighting the whole way back. Knock ‘er out first.”

June barely registered what was said before one of the other monsters replied, “Gladly,” and her head was forcibly lifted. She bit back another noise of pain…until something smashed into her face, the hit this time actually knocking her out.

June didn’t wake up until some time later, groaning over her aching head. Goddammit…what was with her and fucking head injuries? But she managed to successfully sit up and look around, despite the jackhammer trying to beat its way out of her skull. Specifically, one side of her skull. Right, someone had smashed the butt of their gun against her temple. Too bad she didn’t get a good look at who that was. Well…too bad for her, anyway. She had to shake her head a little to get her thoughts to clear. Right, had to focus. Given the pain in her head, she needed to assess physical damage.

Aside from her pounding headache, she was more or less fine – wait. She had a hard time seeing out of one eye. June hissed when her fingers came into contact with the area around the affected eye. Black eye. Go figure. But no other major injuries, so that was good. The monsters she’d tussled with had scratched her up a little, but that wasn’t anything to be worried about. She’d rather focus her healing on her head and black eye. So, sucking in a breath, she did just that.

Somehow, healing a head injury was even more painful than usual, and she almost passed out again. But when she checked, she was pretty damn sure that all damage to her person was fully healed. Time to assess her surroundings.

As June turned her head, though, she noticed something scraping lightly against her neck. When she felt for it, she discovered some sort of fabric band around her neck, held closed with a plastic clasp that she couldn’t find a way to open. Who the hell put a damn collar on her?!

She growled softly, still fidgeting with the collar, when a pair of tiny hands gently pulled her own hands away from the fabric. She whipped her head around to glare at the person suddenly invading her personal space. Staring back at her was a small child, younger than May, with a soft brown bob and a little sailor outfit on. They had a collar, too. Seeing this, her gaze softened, and she gingerly fingered the child’s collar instead of her own.

“The…” she sighed, cutting off the curse that came to her lips. Looking around for real this time, she could now see they were in some sort of cage, but it was far too small for someone of June’s size. It was fine as long as she was sitting or curled up, but there was no way she could get to her feet comfortably in here. The cage was clearly designed with something smaller in mind. Perhaps – no. She refused to let her mind wander there just because there was a kid in this particular cage with her.

Beyond the cage, she could see that the room they were in held several more cages just like theirs, but all of them were currently empty. Why the two humans hadn’t been separated, then, was beyond the teen. She could also see a desk crammed into one corner of the room, and it was very cluttered. And just a few paces from the desk was the door. No one else was currently in the room with them, but she couldn’t guarantee that someone wasn’t nearby, so when she turned her attention to the child next to her, she spoke in a whisper.

“You okay, kid?”

They nodded, then gestured to her, as if to ask the same of her.

“Me?” Nod. “Yeah, I’m fine. I…I’m guessing you saw me healing my wounds a minute ago?” Another nod. “Yeah, so…I’m kind of…special? All these pictures all over my skin? They give me super powers, and they do all kinds of different stuff. This one on my chest lets me heal myself when I’m hurt like that. That make sense?”

The kid nodded again. They were…remarkably calm, given the situation. Weird. But June pushed past the fact, not knowing what else to do right then.

“Good. So…um…what’s your name?”

The kid just stared at her. After a minute of silence, June sighed.

“You don’t talk much, do ya?” They shook their head, and June chuckled in response. “Yes or no questions only, then. Gotcha. You’re weirdly calm about this. I hate to ask this, but…have you…been here before?”

They nodded, and June’s heart plummeted straight out of her chest.

“Shi-itake mushrooms. I was afraid of that,” she sighed, running a hand through her midnight locks. “So you know what these are for?”

The child bobbed their head up and down again, indicating that yes, they knew what the collars were for. June’s expression soured more.

“Fabulous. Any hints you can give me here, kiddo? Oh, sh-um. Ahem. I almost forgot. I asked your name, but didn’t tell you mine. It’s June.”

The child flashed a smile at her so fast, she wasn’t sure if she’d really seen it, and took her hand. June’s confused expression morphed into surprise when they started spelling out something by tracing the letters against her palm.

“P-U-P. Pup. Pup? Your name is Pup?”

The child – Pup, apparently – nodded. June tried to school her face into something that wasn’t what she felt. Why anyone would name a kid “Pup”…she decided not to think about it anymore. As far as she knew, she was still in the Underground, and monsters always did things a little differently than what she was used to. Okay, make that a lot differently. But whatever, not important right now.

“Okay then…Pup. I’ll ask again, since we got off topic. Can you give me any hints about the collars? You had me stop messing with it a minute ago…”

Pup again took her hand and began spelling.

S-H-O-C-K.

“Shock? They’re shock collars?” Pup nodded, frowning. “Let me guess. If we try to remove them, they shock us.” Another nod. “And they can also be triggered remotely to shock us.” Pup confirmed.

“Great…” June grumbled, sulking for all of a second before shaking it off. “But why put us in shock collars in the first place? To keep us in line?”

Pup nodded, and June scowled, directing it at the floor rather than the child. Didn’t need them thinking their cage-mate was upset with them.

“Why? What do they need to keep us in line for?”

Pup took her hand and spelled out T-E-S-T-S.

“ _Tests?_ ” June hissed, her mind instantly going back to Handplates. Oh, she hoped this wasn’t anything like that. “What kind of tests? Like, experiments kind of tests?”

Pup nodded. June gritted her teeth and hissed angrily, letting the string of curses that came to mind go unspoken. Oh _hell_ no. She was _not_ doing that shit again. Nope. Being experimented on had been bad enough the first time.

“F that,” she hissed simply, unable to keep it to herself anymore. “I’ve done that song and dance before, and I’m guessing you have, too. And I don’t know about you, kiddo, but I’m not sitting around to be anyone’s science monkey. You want out of here?”

Pup nodded, their eyes wide. June grinned, the look in her eyes reminiscent of Undyne for the briefest second.

“Then let’s put our heads together and figure out a way to blow this popsicle stand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Credit to the Creator:** Okay, so I know we put down that we weren't sure which of the Mafia or Mob Undertale AUs this one was supposed to be, but after reflecting a bit on it, we decided to credit the [UTMob](http://nyublackneko.tumblr.com/post/138921378037/ut-mob-main-story-masterpost) creator [biteghost](http://biteghost.tumblr.com/), as UTMob was the biggest inspiration for the June-only chapters from here on out.


	48. Two Humans and a Goat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter alternately titled "The God/Goat of Hyperdeath is a Freaking Cutie."
> 
> No warning necessary for this chapter - mostly just cute fluffiness. Oh, but there is a bit of Gaster speak, so it's in the usual ROT2 cipher with translations in the end notes. Enjoy and see you guys next week for more! -S

Chara ended up taking May to their house so she could use her magic safely, and once there, she removed the strings from Chara. The other child gasped and shuddered at the feeling of the strings being removed from their person, the latent anger and bitterness they’d been holding on to suddenly melting away as the girl’s purple magic did its work. May smiled as she let go of her magic, happy to have already helped at least one person in this universe.

“So…I gotta ask. In every other universe, Sans has a brother he lives with in Snowdin. You mentioned you have a brother too. What’s his name?”

“Asriel. And he acts a lot like what you described this…Papyrus to be like.”

“Makes sense. You act like Sans from the other universes, so of course he’d be your Papyrus.”

“Right…just…don’t go mentioning any of that stuff to him, okay? It’ll just confuse him and weird him out.”

“Will do, Chara,” May smiled warmly, then tilted her head to the side curiously. “Ya know, I’m pretty sure I haven’t met any monster named Asriel yet.”

“I’m guessing he and I both are some rare people to come across in the other universes you keep talking about. Since, ya know, you only ran into one other version of me…and I was possessing some kid…”

May’s expression turned to concern as she took in the disturbed look on Chara’s face. They were still having a hard time processing that bit, it seemed. She gently placed a hand over theirs supportively, but before she could say anything, they took a shaky breath and raised their eyes to hers.

“And ya didn’t mention meeting Asriel before, so…at least he has a real excuse not to know ya, heh.”

May huffed out a little laugh at that. Chara had a point. But she had a point to make, too.

“Hey, listen. I know what I told you is a lot to digest – I mean, I can’t imagine what I’d do if it were me. Some kid shows up out of nowhere with this unbelievable story about parallel alternate universes and other versions of me and everyone I know? Tells me there’s a version of a major authority figure that’s out to destroy all the other universes, including mine, and the kid’s there to stop that alternate version of the person? Throw in basically telling me that in every other universe they’ve seen so far, I’m some spirit or something possessing another person…it’s pretty overwhelming. And crazy. It sounds unbelievably crazy. So while I can’t imagine what you’re thinking right now…I can try to understand. If you want to talk, sweetie, I’m here.”

Chara gave her a startled look and leaned away a bit, pulling their hand out from under hers.

“S-sweetie?” they choked out in surprise. May’s face shifted from confusion, to understanding, to blushing embarrassment in a matter of seconds, and she slapped her hands over her burning cheeks.

“God, sorry! I…I don’t know if you _were_ in the other universe, but the kid you were possessing was younger than me…and you didn’t seem to mind, so…I just called you both things like ‘honey’ and ‘sweetie’. I-it just…slipped out. Sorry. God, and you look like you’re my age, for crying out loud…”

Chara relaxed, chuckling, though their own rosy cheeks were slightly darker than before.

“’s alright, kid. Though I’ll try not to be offended you think I’m that young.”

“Huh? Oh! No, I…” she sighed, dropping her hands into her lap and looking away. (Curse her small size and baby-face!) “I’m not as young as you think. I’m actually twelve.”

Chara’s eyebrows raised in surprise. She gave them an understanding look.

“Don’t worry about apologizing. I know I’m little, and I look younger than I am. I get it all the time. I’m pretty used to it.”

“Oh,” was all Chara seemed able to come up with. May giggled sweetly, a warm smile on her face. Then both kid’s heads turned as the front door opened.

“CHARA? ARE YOU HERE? I – OH!”

May stared at the creature standing in the doorway as he stared at her. The monster reminded her of the Toriel from the universe with the kids, only without the tiny horns. Or the purple dress. Instead, the white-furred goat-monster had on a pair of light blue pants, a dark blue jacket, and a rainbow scarf tied like a bandana around his neck. Before she could stop it, a big grin stretched across her face, and she knew the only way to describe her expression now was starry-eyed. This monster was the absolute cutest thing she’d ever seen, and she wanted to hug and cuddle the ever-living heck out of him.

She hopped up from the couch in a hurry, running right up to the goat-monster. Oh! Even better! He was basically a Papyrus…but her size! She practically squealed in delight.

“Oooooh my gosh, hi! I…sorry, I just…you’re so freaking cute! Like, you’re just like a friend of mine, but me sized! And your scarf is awesome! I freaking love rainbows! So many awesome colors, right?” she gushed, unable to stop herself. “And, oh! I guess you’re Chara’s brother? It’s awesome to meet you! I’m May!”

The monster stood there while she rambled, looking her over with a rather shell-shocked expression.

“WAIT. ARE YOU A HUMAN, LIKE CHARA?”

“Yep! Guess I should’ve lead with that. My bad.”

“OH! THIS IS WONDERFUL!” the goat-monster, undoubtedly Asriel, cried in glee, his expression brightening to match hers in energy and enthusiasm. “I’VE NEVER MET ANOTHER HUMAN BEFORE! I AM THE AMAZING ASRIEL! IT’S GREAT TO MEET YOU, MAY! AND I LIKE MY SCARF TOO! RAINBOWS ARE THE BEST!! BUT YOUR OUTFIT IS JUST AS WELL SUITED TO YOU, IT SEEMS!”

As Asriel started listing all the different things that made her outfit great, May slowly turned redder and redder. She’d liked his scarf, sure, and could understand that he’d want to compliment her back, but…was it really necessary for him to go so in-depth about her clothes? But he really seemed to like the way she looked, and she’d never had anyone pay that much attention to her before. It was embarrassing, but it also came with a giddy feeling she couldn’t place, and it made her heart flutter. When Asriel finally ran out of things to compliment about her outfit, he seemed to notice her very flustered state and blushed himself.

“U-UM, I G-GUESS I’M TRYING TO SAY I THINK YOU LOOK GREAT, TOO. Y-YOU’RE THE CUTE ONE, HERE!!”

“Wha-oh! Ah, um, I-I, uh…th-th-thank you? I just picked this outfit ‘cause I like skirts and flow-y things…”

“Ugh, you both are gonna kill me. For the love of all things under the sun, both of you stop being so cute. Right now. I mean it,” Chara said with a grin, clearly not meaning it. Asriel puffed up, looking quite annoyed at his sibling. May just blushed and giggled, then took the opportunity while the goat-boy was distracted to step behind him, summon her magic, and dispel the strings still tied around his Soul.

Asriel gasped and shuddered, then blinked, his posture relaxing as all the anger left his body. He then pointed a confused look at Chara.

“WHAT WAS I SO ANGRY ABOUT AGAIN?”

“Dunno, bro. Maybe that I _got your goat_ by calling you cute?”

And just like that, Asriel puffed up again, but May could see the difference between the real anger and what this was as he chastised Chara.

“I AM NOT CUTE!! THE AMAZING ASRIEL, ABSOLUTE GOD OF HYPERDEATH, IS ANYTHING BUT CUTE!!! AND YOU PUNNED ON TOP OF THAT! UGH!! I AM SO SORRY, MAY, THAT YOU HAVE HAD TO PUT UP WITH MY SIBLING’S PUNS AS LONG AS YOU HAVE! BUT WORRY NOT! FOR I WILL CAPTURE YOU, A HUMAN, AND –”

“Ummm…” May interrupted gently, knowing exactly where this was going. She didn’t need to hear another speech about how he would turn her in and become a member of the Royal Guard and get everything he’d always wanted. It was enough to hear it the first time.

“OH, YOU HAD SOMETHING YOU WISHED TO SAY?”

“Um, yeah, actually. Before you capture me and turn me over to the king or the Captain of the Royal Guard…I kind of have this really important thing I have to take care of. Well, two things, now that I think about it. Wait, three. Ugh. Anyway, one of them is that I need to…uh, ask something really important and personal of Chara. So, um…could you maybe…wait outside or something while I ask?”

May gave him a sheepish look and fidgeted where she stood. She didn’t like having to ask him to leave the room so she could ask Chara what she needed to ask, but unless she took the time to explain everything to him (which Chara had already asked her not to do), she couldn’t actually ask what she needed. But Asriel didn’t seem perturbed at all, beaming sweetly at her before agreeing and exiting the house, closing the door softly behind him.

“Heh. Knew you’d get along with him. And the two of you really do make a cute pair,” Chara smirked cheekily, to which May blushed.

“Aw, shut up!”

“Heh heh heh. Anyway, what was it you needed?”

“Well, I actually kind of lied. It _is_ important, but it’s not anything really personal. I just need to borrow the machine in the basement. I just figured it’d be easier to tell him it was something personal than to try and explain what I really needed to ask.”

“Ah. Thanks for that. But what d’ya need it for?”

“Well, like I told you earlier, my fancy interdimensional watch is kinda out of power right now, and I need to go charge it. But before I do that, I need to check in with one of the other universes, to let them know what’s going on. And so they can get a message to my sister when her thingy is back online.”

“Gotcha. Sure, you can use it. Follow me.”

Chara stepped outside and turned, allowing May out and simultaneously getting Asriel’s attention.

“ARE YOU FINISHED WITH WHAT YOU NEEDED?”

“Not yet, bro. She needs to borrow something from my workshop first. Then we gotta help her get to the Core for something else she needs.”

“OH! WELL ALRIGHT. I SHALL WAIT HERE FOR YOU, THEN! AND PLEASE RETURN TO ME WHEN YOU ARE DONE IN CHARA’S WORKSHOP! I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO ASSIST IN ESCOURTING YOU TO THE CORE!!”

“Will do, Asriel. Thanks for being so understanding,” May replied, giving him her sunniest smile. Asriel beamed right back, his cheeks a little pink.

“BUT OF COURSE, HUMAN! ER, MAY!”

She giggled and waved to him as Chara rolled their eyes and dragged her away, towards where she knew their basement was. Chara then unlocked the doors (May snorted at the sight of the lock again, vaguely wondering if June still had their own lock in her pocket), leading the girl down into the basement.

“Welp, here we are. Give me a sec to get the machine set up for ya.”

May nodded, watching Chara flick it on and input the controls. When they stepped back, May bounced forward, taking over from there. She remembered the commands Sans had put in before to bring up the communication feature, so working her way through them was relatively easy.

The burst of static from the communication connecting startled both kids, but May broke into a big grin. Once it cleared, she was even more delighted to see Science and Gaster already standing by their machine.

“may! you called back!”

“Hey, Sci! Yeah, I thought I’d give you an update, since I kind of ended it so suddenly last time. Sorry about that. But I’m in a new universe! The last one you spotted Error in, twenty-seven. Speaking of, is he still here?”

She was speaking so quickly, it was a bit confusing, but the skeletons seemed to understand after a moment to pick apart her words, then they muttered back and forth as they clicked about on their side. Then they both frowned.

"Kv yqwnf uggo jg ku pq nqpigt kp vjcv wpkxgtug. Cpf yg ecppqv vtcem yjgtg jg ku ewttgpvna. Jg owuv jcxg tgvwtpgf vq jku ugevkqp qh vjg Cpvk-Xqkf," Gaster sighed. May hummed with a frown in response when Science translated for her, but nodded.

“Well, it’s at least one less thing I need to worry about right now. Error’s kinda jacked up this timeline, so I’ll need to stick around and fix it before trying to follow him. Any news from June?”

“yes and no. her signal came back online a bit ago, but now…” Science sighed. “the device is still transmitting, but we’re not getting anything from her. we think the device may have been removed from her person again.”

“But her signal came back? So she’s still…oh thank goodness…but you’re right, that is worrying. Last time that happened was in Handplates – the universe with the mean Gaster that experimented on us.”

Both Gaster’s and Science’s expressions fell at the mention of that Gaster, but they nodded in agreement with the girl.

“Were you able to make contact with her?”

"Wphqtvwpcvgna, pq. Jgt ukipcn ecog dcem yjgp yg ygtgp'v rcakpi cvvgpvkqp, cpf da vjg vkog yg fkf, jgt Uvcvu cpf xkvcnu cpf uwej fkucrrgctgf cickp. Qp vjcv ucog pqvg, yg'xg pqvkegf aqwt fgxkeg jcu agv vq eqog dcem qpnkpg. Ctg aqw cntkijv, nkvvng qpg?"

May smiled sweetly at the two skeletons, touched that they were so concerned for her.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Better than when I first got here, actually. And I kinda left the last universe in a hurry, so I didn’t get the chance to charge it back up yet. But after I sign off with you guys, that’s the next item on my list…along with helping everyone I can on the way there! Don’t worry too much about me, guys. I can handle this! You just keep up with Error and me and June when we come back online. ‘Kay?”

The skeletons nodded, seeming a little bolstered by her own enthusiasm.

“be careful out there, may,” Science added, adjusting his glasses on his face. May nodded, giving him a beaming smile before signing off. She then turned to Chara, who had been staring between her and the screen the whole time.

“Weird to see Sans like that?”

“Just a bit.”

She giggled, unable to help herself.

“I can imagine. But anyway, now that they know what’s going on, I can move on to the other concerns. With Error not in this universe, it means we don’t have to worry about finding him for now. If he has beef, he’ll come to us. In the meantime, I still need to get to the Core and charge my device back up. So! That’s the next order of business! Um, if that’s okay,” May added, looking sheepish. She didn’t want to make them think she was trying to boss them around or anything! But Chara smiled and seemed more relaxed now, nodding in agreement.

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s get a move on, then. Asriel’s waiting for us.”

May beamed, her sheepishness forgotten as she followed Chara up and out of the basement again.

“ARE YOU READY TO GO TO THE CORE NOW, MAY?”

“Yep! All set!”

“GREAT! THEN LET US DEPART AT ONCE!!”

May giggled sweetly and fell in step next to Asriel as he marched towards the end of town, chest puffed out with pride, Chara smiling and following close behind.

As they walked and encountered puzzles, May did her best to solve them on her own (and usually managed to do so), surprising Asriel with her “cunning”. What impressed Chara was that any time they came across another monster who wanted to challenge May, she would accept – then spend the entire fight dodging skillfully, finding a way to Spare the monster and befriend them before the trio would set off again. Asriel was even more impressed with May as time went on, and she was just as enamored with him as he was with her. But every now and again, May would think she heard another voice speaking to her, one she’d never heard before, and look around for the source. When Chara and Asriel both claimed it wasn’t them, she became a little concerned, but pretended to shrug it off, so not to worry them.

Chara could see right through her calm and cheerful façade when the voice started bothering her, however, and pulled her aside as the three walked through Waterfall to talk to her about it.

“You’re hearing that voice again.”

“What?”

“I can tell. And don’t lie to me and say you can’t hear it, or that it doesn’t bother you. I can see that it does. Asriel may buy your act, but I don’t. So talk to me. Tell me about it. What does it sound like? What is it saying?”

May hesitated, but finally sighed and dropped the act, her face falling into a worried expression.

“I-it…it sounds…I’m not saying that!” she suddenly snapped at the air, startling Chara. She flashed them an apologetic look. “Sorry. The voice wants me to describe it as ‘fabulous’.”

The young girl rolled her eyes, but continued. “But I’m not calling a voice fabulous. What it _is_ , is creepy. Like, not creepy-sounding, exactly, but creepy nonetheless. It sounds…the way it words things is very…flamboyant and feminine, but the voice itself is more masculine, I think…and they keep saying things. Things that kinda scare me. Like asking if I’m curious about what a monster looks like right before it crumbles to dust. Or what a monster Soul looks like when it’s about to shatter.”

May hugged herself and shuddered, looking haunted. After the last universe, she didn’t even want to think about dust. There were a lot of things she didn’t want to think about or see again. Dust was one of the biggest, though.

A chill crept through the air after she whispered the words the voice had been pestering her with, and Chara gave her a serious look.

“And do you?”

May’s head shot up, her expression pale and beyond horrified.

“No! I don’t want to know what a monster looks like before it dies! I…I never want to see another pile of dust for as long as I live…and I definitely don’t want to see a monster Soul shatter. I don’t want to see it, I don’t want to hear it, I don’t even want to think about it,” May answered, shaking her head. The silence that hung after her words was palpable, so when it was broken by her giving a low chuckle, Chara tilted their head to the side, curious as to what she would say next.

“You know…I never would have known until the last universe I was in that when you die, there are a number of different ways your body reacts. Usually, the first thing is shock. Everything sort of just goes numb. Then reality starts blending with memories – your life flashing before your eyes, as it were. Everybody knows about those two things. But what no one talks about is the physical stuff. Depending on how you’re dying, it can be so fast you don’t have time to register anything…or so painfully, excruciatingly slow that the initial shock wears off, and you feel _everything_. I can’t tell you how strange it is, to see your own Soul in front of you as you’re dying and watch it shatter at the same moment everything goes black. I can’t tell you how gut-wrenching the sound of a Soul shattering is. I can’t tell you how empty you feel when your Soul leaves your body seconds before you actually die. But what I _can_ tell you, is that I would _never_ wish any of that on someone else. I could never be the cause of someone else knowing what that’s like. I only pray that I can get you to believe me, Chara.”

Chara looked like they were going to be sick for a second as May talked, but they eventually recovered and looked at her sympathetically, sliding an arm around her shoulders and bringing the girl in for a side-hug.

“I can honestly say I don’t know what to say to that. Other than I feel for you. And I'm honored that you told me. You didn’t deserve it, but you’ll make it.”

May gave a little sniffle before surprising the other kid by pulling them into a full-on hug. It was a very sentimental moment, which was just waiting to be ruined, mainly by an anxious Asriel.

“MAY! CHARA! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS? OH, THERE YOU ARE. IS THIS GROUP HUG TIME? I LOVE GROUP HUGS!”

May and Chara broke apart and turned towards the entrance to the little cave they’d moved into to see Asriel rushing over to them and wrapping them both up in a hug of his own. May let out a giggle at the affection, feeling much lighter than she had just moments ago. Looking at Chara, she could also tell they weren’t as melancholy. Evidently Asriel (and all the Papyruses she’d met so far) had that effect on people.

The rest of the way through Waterfall was pretty pleasant, despite occasional visits from the voice May kept hearing. (She mostly ignored it. Though sometimes, if she was examining something, she would get an irritated look on her face before turning away from whatever she was looking at and muttering under her breath. She explained to Chara a little later that the voice was narrating inside her head, getting a laugh from the other child.)

Then they finally reached Hotland.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Gaster Translations:** "It would seem he is no longer in that universe. And we cannot track where he is currently. He must have returned to his section of the Anti-Void."  
>  "Unfortunately, no. Her signal came back when we weren't paying attention, and by the time we did, her Stats and vitals and such disappeared again. On that same note, we've noticed your device has yet to come back online. Are you alright, little one?"


	49. Humans and Skeletons and Robots, Oh My!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _hnnnnnngg i didn't meant to have this posted so late sorry_
> 
> We are gonna have some Gaster speak in this one, so expect the usual ROT2 cipher with translations in the end notes, but also...there's gonna be some Italian spoken as well! With translations after the text, of course, since our main character can actually understand that language. Anyway, no other warnings to heed, so enjoy this one, guys! See you next week for more! -S

Taking a cursory glance around the room, June was glad to see that this cage area wasn’t like the cells in Handplates – no cameras, which most likely meant no microphones either. That, and all the cages were all wire and metal, not a trace of magic on them at all. That would make escaping that much easier.

“Okay, so here’s what I’m thinking. You know this place pretty well, right?” she asked, glancing back down to her small companion. Pup nodded to answer her question.

“Good. Then when I get the cage open, you take the lead in guiding us out of here. We run into trouble, you just put me between them and you. I’ll take care of the rest. Okay, kiddo?”

Pup stared at her for a minute after she said that, long enough that she had to prompt the child to get a response. Finally, they took her hand and spelled out into her palm why they’d spaced out.

S-O-R-R-Y. S-A-N-S.

“Sans? What – oh, I get it. He calls you kid or kiddo?”

Pup nodded, a smile flashing across their face so fast, she wasn’t sure if she really saw it.

“Well, don’t worry about it. Just try not to space out like that when we’re busting out of here if you can help it. Don’t need to end up accidentally getting separated or losing you in here.”

The kid nodded, scooting closer to her and cuddling her arm affectionately. June couldn’t help the little bemused huff that escaped, but she smiled down at the child anyway and chuckled, ruffling their hair softly. The gesture clearly meant they didn’t want to lose track of the older girl, either, and June could appreciate the sentiment.

“Alright, alright, enough with the mushy stuff,” she finally grumbled, still smiling as she gently pried Pup off her arm. “So. Since you know so much about this place, I need you to tell me. The cages, the door, our collars – are any of them wired? Like an alarm?”

Pup seemed to think about it, then shrugged and shook their head.

“Don’t know, huh? That’s alright. They’ve probably never needed an alarm for you. But I can guarantee they’ll have one somewhere for me. Doesn’t seem like the cage is wired, but I can’t tell about the door or the collars…” June worried her dark lip between her teeth absentmindedly, more muttering to herself than to Pup. “Maybe you can tell me who runs the tests around here?”

To that, Pup nodded, taking her hand again to spell it out.

G-A-S-T-E-R.

“Wha – Dr. Gaster?” June hissed, surprised. Pup nodded. The teen almost swore, casting her fiery glare off to the side. Shit. If this Gaster was a bad one, then this could go sideways fast if something went wrong. And with a small human child in tow, this would be a lot harder than it had been in Handplates. At least the three kids following her there were two monster kids (both of whom had magic and could defend themselves) and her own mage little sister. This…this would be a challenge. But June lived for overcoming challenges.

A tiny hand waving in front of her face snapped her attention to the child in question, tilting their head with a questioning look.

“Huh? Oh, I’m okay. Just thinking. I’m just trying to calculate potential risks and outcomes of different scenarios.” A blank look from Pup had her sighing. “How much of that did you actually understand?”

Pup shook their head, and June took it to mean none of it. She sighed again and tried to think of another way to explain what she said.

“I was trying to figure out all the stuff that could go wrong and what to do if it happened. Or what to do to avoid them happening. It’s called strategy, and it’s something I’m pretty good at. Most of the time…” she added under her breath, looking away. But she didn’t leave herself time to dwell on it, quickly turning back to Pup. “Anyway, it’s how I figure out what to do about certain things. Like if we run in to Gaster. But don’t worry, kiddo. I can take ‘im if it comes to that. Like I said, we run into trouble, you make sure I’m between it and you. Got it?”

Pup nodded.

“Alright then. First thing I’m gonna do is get us out of this cage. I dunno about you, but it’s a little cramped for my tastes.”

Pup seemed to laugh at that, hiding a smile behind their hand, nodding all the same. June then twisted so that she was facing the door to the cage. Since she wasn’t sure if there was anyone outside of the door to their room, she opted to try the silent and sneaky route – using her telekinesis to open the latch and prop the door open, allowing the kid out first. Once she was able to properly stand, Pup stood by her leg, making good on the idea of sticking close to her.

She laid a gentle and reassuring hand on their head before moving to the door, peeking out the window to the door as carefully as she could. It appeared that the door was guarded, but the guard was facing away from the door, so they didn’t see her peeking out. Using this to her advantage, she examined what lay beyond the door.

And really, she couldn’t see much. Just a dirty white hall with a door across from whatever room they were in. What June could see gave a sense of slight dilapidation and abandonment. And, given what she could infer from their situation, it made sense. Somewhere isolated and abandoned would be the perfect place to hold two humans hostage and run experiments on them, after all.

Great, she found herself thinking sarcastically. With that question out of the way, she now had to deal with how to get rid of the guard at the door without alerting anyone else, then find their way safely out of the –

Her thoughts derailed when she spotted movement out of the corner of her limited field of view, something opposite their guard. Something tall, thin, and white. Something – some _one_ , she realized with wide eyes – very familiar. And he was nodding to the guard while swiping some sort of keycard, totally oblivious to the girl staring out at him.

In a panic, June rapidly tiptoed back from the door, dragging Pup back with her, hissing curses under her breath as she did. Not thinking of where else to hide, she ducked behind the door, crouching down and holding tight to Pup, slapping a hand over their mouth. (Not that it was necessary thus far, but…)

Gaster swept into the room, studying the clipboard in his hand quietly. June barely even breathed, hoping they would go unnoticed behind the door. But just as the doctor went to mutter something under his breath while flipping through the papers on the clipboard, his brow bone wrinkled, and he glanced over at the cage the two humans had once occupied. The teen held her breath, stiffening further and clutching Pup to her tightly. Tiny hands clung just as fiercely back. They both watched Gaster’s eye sockets widen before he spun about in circles, looking for them.

When Gaster’s sockets finally landed on them, the pair stared at the skeleton, with him staring back.

Then Gaster did the oddest thing. He raised a hand slowly to his face and made a shushing motion to June, keeping eye contact with her rather than Pup. Then he backed up and put the clipboard down on the cluttered desk behind him, making sure she could see what he was doing, and doing it slowly. This confused her, though she didn’t let it show. Why was he acting as if she were some sort of frightened mother animal?

Pup’s hands squeezing her arm prompted her to think that she might very well look like a mother animal protecting her young, with the way she clung to the child. Suddenly his actions made a lot more sense. Though that did nothing to make them less suspicious. She kept her sharp eyes trained on Gaster, watching his every move like a hawk. Unsure if this was a friendly Gaster or an evil one, she couldn’t afford not to.

"Jgnnq. K jqrg vjg ogp jgtg fkf pqv tqwij aqw wr vqq owej. K...jqrg kv ku pqv vqq owej vq cum jqy aqw iqv qwv qh aqwt ecig?" Gaster said in as soothing a voice as he could, approaching them slowly with his hands raised. June blinked in surprise. Again with this? She glanced down at her wrist to see…her watch missing. Again.

“God fucking…” June hissed, gritting her teeth. Gaster looked surprised, and Pup just shifted their gaze to her. She leveled her gaze to the doctor with irritation.

“Don’t say another fucking word to us unless you have a way for us to understand you, because I have no fucking idea what you just said. And no, I don’t know sign language, so try something else.”

The teen paused then grimaced.

“Pup, you shouldn’t repeat any of what I just said. Lots of bad words, okay? And especially don’t repeat any of that to Sans and Papyrus. Got it?”

Pup just stared up at her blankly, to which she sighed.

“I’ll take that as a yes for now,” she added, then looked back at Gaster, who was staring at her in surprise.

"Aqw mpqy oa dtqvjgtu?" Gaster whispered. June blinked, then glared.

“What did I literally just fucking say?” Again, she winced, and looked down at Pup. “Again, don’t repeat that, kiddo, ‘kay?”

Gaster then seemed to frantically look around for something, and he rushed back over to the desk, picking up the clipboard and a pen before scribbling rapidly. June first went back to instinctively grasping Pup and watching the skeleton warily, but then turned to quietly observing him in curiosity. He paced around while he wrote, then took a few quick steps towards them again. In a sharp motion, he stopped very close to the two humans and flicked the clipboard out to face her. Startled by the sudden action, June shifted Pup to her side with her slightly shielding the child and telekinetically shoved Gaster back a ways. The push was so quick, his clipboard seemed to almost hover in the air for a moment. Then it clattered to the floor, and he stumbled, landing on his tailbone and staring at her in shock.

Once June made sure he was a safer distance away, she slowly picked up the clipboard, casually and cautiously pushing Pup further behind her as she did. Only then she glanced down at the papers clipped to the board. In neat but obviously rushed print handwriting, it read, “My apologies for not realizing you could not understand me. My name is Dr. Wingding Gaster. I had said that I hoped the men here did not rough you up too much, and that I wished to know how you got out of your cage. I also could not help but notice you seem to know my brothers, Sans and Papyrus. Could you please explain how you know them?”

June glanced up at the skeletal man before her with a wary expression, though he hadn’t moved from where she’d accidentally pushed him down. In fact he was still openly staring at her, fascination and fear mingling together in his gaze.

“I know who you are, Gaster. And the men who brought me here knocked me out by hitting me in the head, if that tells you anything. Otherwise, minimal damage. As for getting out of the cage…I’m not telling you anything just yet, pal. I don’t trust you, and for good reason. Now, like you saw, no sudden moves. I can do a lot worse than just pushing you around. Trust me on that,” she added with a dark tone and an almost evil look, causing the skeleton to shiver. “Anyway. Sans and Papyrus. Yeah, I know them. But again, I’m not telling you anything just yet. Give me a reason to trust you, and I just might be a little more willing to cooperate.”

Gaster nodded slowly, cautiously scooting closer to them and taking the clipboard back from the girl. He switched his gaze back and forth between her and the papers while he seemed to think over what to write next, then finally settled on something, writing just as excitedly as before. Once done, he was much more careful about how he handed her the board, for which she was grateful.

“It is most unfortunate they treated you so poorly. I am sorry for that. I am glad, however, that you do not seem to be hurt. I have so many questions for you, particularly about the magic the men believed you displayed when they went to capture the child. But as you do not trust me, I can see that you will not willingly answer the questions I have. There is only one thing I can think of to tell you that might get you to trust me. And that is that I do not preform my experiments upon my subjects willingly. I did at first, because I believed I was doing the right thing. But I have since seen the error of my ways. I know now that these experiments are very, very wrong, and the child you are currently protecting was supposed to be the last of them. But someone must have realized I purposely did not complete my work on the child, because they have been brought back, and you were unfortunately caught in the crossfire. Now they wish for me to complete my work on the child, and find something to do with you. Please believe me when I say I do not want to. But they have threatened both my life, and the lives of my brothers if I do not comply. I do not wish to harm you or the child. But I also worry for my brothers. Please, would you tell me how they are? Are they alright without me? How are they?”

June looked back up at Gaster, her suspicious and distrustful demeanor softening. So this wasn’t a bad Gaster…he was just being forced to do bad things. She could certainly understand the position he was in. Well, she could at least trust him, then.

“Thank you. For being concerned about my well-being. That alone would have been enough for me to see you’re not like what I was afraid of. But the explanation of your situation does help as well. I’ll tell you what little I know. Sans and Papyrus were…well, to be frank about it, they were trying to capture me and take me to some woman Paps called ‘old boss’ when they came for Pup. Pup is the kid’s name – the name Sans and Papyrus gave them, from the look of things. But it seemed to me they were doing alright. Sans is as distrustful of strangers as ever, and Papyrus is as sweet as he always is. But I haven’t been here long, so I can’t tell you more than that. Sorry. Oh, but as far as I know, neither one was injured in the raid to get Pup. I think I was the only one, actually. But I already healed my injuries, so that’s not a real concern right now.”

The confused look on Gaster’s face clearly meant he had questions for her about that, but since she still had his clipboard, he couldn’t ask her whatever it was. Though she had a pretty good guess what the question would be.

“You wanna know what I mean by that, right? Well, to answer that, and going back to your thing about us getting out of the cage and my abilities…the men informed you correctly. I do possess magic. I am, in fact, a mage. And it was part of this magic that allowed me to open the cage from the inside with my mind. Same way I healed my own injuries, and how I pushed you away from us without touching you. As you noticed, though, I didn’t use blue magic for that. And I don’t have green magic for the healing. It’s…” she sighed, not really wanting to get into it right then, “long and complicated to explain. Not that I doubt you’d understand. It’s just not something I wanna get into right now.”

Gaster gestured for the clipboard and June handed it back. He penned something out before handing it over again.

“I am glad you trust me now. Thank you for that. And thank you for telling me that about my brothers. It puts my mind at ease a little to know they are alright. Though it does anger me considerably that they were attacked, I am glad to hear they were not harmed. Again, thank you for informing me of this. As for your abilities, as I said, I have many questions. You say you are a mage, but what exactly does that entail? What magic do you possess? How are you able to move things with your mind instead of your magic? What do you mean you already healed your injuries, despite not having healing magic? What all else can you do? And furthermore, off the topic of your abilities, why do you say you haven’t been here long? It seems an odd phrase to add to your explanation as to why you do not know more about my brothers. It leads me to believe you are not from around this area. So where are you from? What brought you here? How did you meet my brothers? And if it is not too bold to ask, what on earth are those stains all over you? Not the tattoos, mind you – I am aware of what those are. I am referring to the actual stains on your skin and clothes.”

June blinked, feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of questions Gaster had fit onto the page. Oh good lord, how was she going to answer all of these? She took a deep breath and cast her bewildered expression over to the skeleton, who looked eager for answers. She let it out in a short sigh that sounded more like a huff. Okay, one step at a time. Better start from the beginning. And so she did, detailing as quickly and concisely as possible everything that had happened to her and May from the moment they fell into their version of the Underground. Gaster (and Pup, from the way the child settled at her elbow and stared at her) hung on to her every word. Once she finished her long tale, she went on to explain about her own magic and powers, as many things had been skipped over in her shortened version of events. The scientific skeleton looked highly fascinated by the girl, and very much like he desperately wanted to study everything about her. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. She’d be pretty damn curious too, if it were anyone but herself and her sister.

Handing back the clipboard finally, she added, “Any questions?”

He wrote something short for once and handed it back.

“From your tale, nothing I believe you would have the answer to, my dear.”

“Ah. Alright then. In that case, let’s get down to business. How the… _heck_ are we gonna get out of here? And, just as important, if not more so – how the heck to we get these d-darn collars off?”

Gaster hesitated, seeming to think about it while tapping the pen against his teeth thoughtfully. He muttered under his breath, but since June couldn’t understand him, she only frowned at whatever he was saying. Which prompted her to remember…

“Another thing. Where the heck did they put all my stuff? I’m gonna need it back.”

Gaster frowned further and opened his mouth to speak. Then he seemed to remember that she couldn’t understand him still, and wrote again.

“I cannot be for certain where the men stashed your things. And getting you out of here either unnoticed or without suspicion is going to be difficult. Especially without completing my work on–” (here, the words “the child” were crossed out) “–Pup. However, there may be a way. Do you know how well your telepathy works on monsters?”

June thought about it.

“Well, not really. I mean, I know I can force them to go to sleep, just like with humans. But otherwise, I’m not sure. I haven’t had to try.”

Gaster nodded, then scribbled something else.

“Perhaps you could try it on me?”

June’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“You’d…want me to experiment on you?”

He shrugged.

“It would only be fair, after all. Would it not?”

June considered it, skeptical of the idea.

“And just what would you want me to try to do to you, exactly?”

The skeleton thought about it, then smiled as an idea came to him.

“Perhaps you could try to make me speak in such a way that you could understand.”

The ravenette nodded, thinking about it. She wouldn’t have thought of that. Sure, she could manipulate a person’s mind into tricking their body, of that, she was sure…but affecting their linguistic skills? Well…worth a try…

“Okay, I guess. Here we go.”

June calmed her own mind and focused her power through the eye-in-hand tattoo on her forehead, then reached out for Gaster, hovering one hand over her temple and the other over Gaster’s. She met no resistance from his mind, finding it open, relaxed, and inviting her in. This would have normally thrown up a red flag, but as these weren’t normal circumstances, she let it slide. She pushed her mind to search for the part of his that controlled his speech patterns. Once she found it, she paused, unsure what to do. She didn’t want to alter his current speech patterns – once she had the watch back, she’d be able to understand him without trouble anyway. But then, how was she going to…?

Then it came to her. Perhaps she could plant memories of another language in his mind, and new speech patterns would grow from those planted memories. Running with it, she went to work. Once the memories were in place, she backed out of his mind and released the power, dropping her hands and coming back to reality.

“Well? Did it work? Try saying something to me.”

Gaster paused, then said, “Non so quanto bene questa idea ha funzionato. Non pensare o sentire in modo diverso rispetto a prima.” _(I do not know how well this idea worked. I do not think or feel differently than before.)_

June grinned, understanding every word perfectly. It wasn’t often she got to make use of her knowledge of this language. The shocked scientist clapped a hand over his mouth, immediately blurting out, “Io-io non so questa lingua! Come posso parlarlo correntemente così? Santificato ricordo impararla? Ma so che non è accaduto. So che quei ricordi non sono mie. Allora, come... cosa hai fatto?” _(I-I do not know this language! How can I speak it so fluently? I…but I remember learning it? But I know that did not happen. I know those memories are not mine. So how…what did you do?)_

“Took my own memories of learning that language and made altered copies, then planted them in the linguistics center of your mind. Now you know a language I can understand. Lucky that I’m fluent in Italian.”

“Ho…sí. Suppongo che sia abbastanza fortunati. Questo... questo è piuttosto bizzarro... ” _(I…yes. I suppose that is quite fortunate. This…this is rather bizarre…)_

“Yeah, well…it gets the job done,” June replied with a shrug.

“È piuttosto una lingua curiosa e mi piacerebbe chiedere di più a questo proposito, ma siamo sempre fuori pista. Fateci pianificare la fuga e una via verso i miei fratelli. Si sono presi cura di voi.” _(It is quite a curious language, and I would love to ask more about it, but we are getting off track. Let us plan your escape, and a route to my brothers. They will look after you.)_ Gaster stated with a sigh, looking weary.

“Yeah, if they don’t try to shoot me first…” June muttered under her breath, snorting. When Gaster raised a brow bone at her curiously, she just waved her hand. “I-it’s nothing. Let’s just…get to the planning you mentioned? So besides the language problem, what did you have in mind for my telepathy?”

“Beh, il mio pensiero – naturalmente dipenda dalla vostra capacità di farlo – era di averti a utilizzare la telepatia per manipolare le menti delle guardie, in modo che noi potremmo passare inosservati.” _(Well, my thinking – dependent of course on your ability to do so – was to have you use your telepathy to manipulate the minds of the guards so that we could slip by unnoticed.)_

“Oh. So, like, put them to sleep, or force them to forget they saw us…or, hey, I’ve got an idea. Turn one of our wardens into our prisoner. Get them to work in our favor. I use my telepathy to convince them they’ve got orders to move us to elsewhere in the facility. No one thinks twice about it since we’ve essentially got an escort to wherever we need to go. Even out of here, if we grab the right person.”

Gaster seemed to think on it, but before he could reach a verdict, June’s attention went to the small child tugging on her sleeve.

“What’s up, Pup?”

Pup took her hand and started spelling quickly.

I K-N-O-W S-E-C-R-E-T W-A-Y-S.

“Secret ways? What’s that mean? Like hidden passages or something?”

Pup nodded excitedly, and when June cast a slightly confused glance to the skeletal scientist, he was contemplative. Then the proverbial lightbulb seemed to go off in his head.

“Credo di che sapere di questo passaggio. Potrebbe funzionare, soprattutto con la guardia di scortare noi. Finchè nessuno attivamente si avvicina a noi, non sembrerebbe sospetto... o, almeno, meno così.” _(I believe I know of such a passage. It could work, especially with the guard escorting us. As long as no one actively approaches us, it would not seem suspicious…or, at least, less so.)_

June nodded and hummed in understanding. There were still some pretty major gaps in their plan, though, and she wanted to get them taken care of before they launched their escape.

“So, one thing I should mention…once we get this thing rolling, you’ll need to go back to speaking how you normally would. Suddenly learning Italian would set off too many alarms for anyone we come across.”

Gaster nodded, making a noise of agreement.

“Pensare bene. Non pensavo nulla di più probabilmente dovuto i ricordi copiati.” _(Good thinking. I would not have thought anything of it…most likely due to the copied memories.)_

“Yeah…not exactly my most thought out idea…anyway. We’ll still need to find my things. Especially that watch. If I don’t have it…”

“Sono bloccati qui e non può restituire o comunicare con chiunque. Capisco il tuo problema. Forse siamo in grado di convincere la guardia a darci la posizione dei vostri beni così come ci hanno accompagnato.” _(You are stranded here, and cannot return or communicate with anyone. I understand your problem. Perhaps we can convince the guard to give us the location of your belongings as well as escort us.)_

“Mm. Good idea. And if anyone starts asking too many questions or getting too close, I’ll…heh heh, _persuade_ them to look the other way and forget us. Or maybe go take a nap right where they’re standing. Or he-heck, add them to the escort service.”

Gaster agreed to that as well. This was really starting to shape up… Casting a glance to the door, June finally stood back up (okay, _ow_. Why had she stayed crouched like that for so long?), and made her way over.

“Aspetta, stiamo... stiamo facendo questo _ora?_ ” _(Wait, are we…are we doing this_ now? _)_

June turned back to the skeleton with a small smirk, noting his highly panicked expression. Maybe she didn’t feel as confident as she looked, but she knew how to keep a brave face. Years of toughing out bad situations made her a pretty good at that.

“No time like the present. Besides, nothing’s gonna get done if we just keep sitting around talking about it. If we’re gonna do this, might as well be now. Pup,” June turned to the child, who snapped to attention at her summon. “You ready for this?”

The child hesitated, then gave her a thumbs up with one hand and see-sawed the other.

“As ready as you’re gonna be?”

Pup nodded, darting to her leg and clinging to her. June gave a sharp nod of her own, then looked to Gaster.

“Well? You in?”

Gaster seemed to struggle to compose himself for a moment, but managed to do so, standing with a cool expression.

“Come hai detto tu... Suppongo che è ora o mai più. Cominciamo.” _(As you said…I suppose it is now or never. Let us begin.)_

June nodded, a fierce grin on her lips as a dark fire sparked in her eyes.

“Let’s.”

Stalking over to the door, June waved to Gaster to open it a fraction, firing up her telepathy. The scientist nodded, opening it and stepping out of the room, propping the door open with his foot. (Nice touch. As long as Gaster stood there talking to the guard, they wouldn’t think anything of him having the door propped open. And this way, she could get proper contact with them.) With the guard distracted, June snuck up behind the bat monster and zeroed in on its mind. The teen tried to take control, and was surprised by the resistance she encountered. After a brief mental struggle, however, she managed to gain the upper hand and knock the guard unconscious. Gaster caught the bat-creature before he could hit the ground, but June wasn’t done yet. With the guard’s subconscious mind now under her control, she managed to get him to stand on his own.

“Well, this will have to do for communication…” June had the guard say for her, turning to Gaster. “It’ll take too much of my concentration to keep the guard under control, so I won’t be able to speak. And I won’t be inclined to physically move, so…hold on…”

June had the bat monster scoop her up in his arms, maintaining contact the whole time. (The one rather unfortunate drawback to her telepathy – it was less effective if she wasn’t in direct contact with her target.)

“There. It looks like I’m still unconscious and you had to ask the guard for help moving me. Speaking of moving, we better get to it. We’ll need to find my stuff before we head for the exit – no use doubling back.”

“Concordato.” _(Agreed.)_

The bat guard nodded in June’s place, then stilled for a moment.

“D-drat,” he almost swore, “The guard doesn’t know where they left my things. We’ll have to go hunt for them. Pup. Stay close, okay, hun? No wandering off on your own.”

Pup nodded, taking June’s free hand and staying close to the guard.

“Well, let’s get going, then…”

Setting off down the hall, Gaster had to search the rooms for June’s belongings, since she was focused with the guard and couldn’t have him put her down to help. A couple times, June would signal to Gaster to come back out to the hall and rejoin them, as she would hear someone coming with the guard’s enhanced hearing. (Good thing the saying was _blind_ as a bat, rather than deaf. Though the bat monster seemed to have twenty-twenty vision…) When asked what was going on, Gaster would explain his needing the two humans moved and help moving the girl. Once the monster would pass and leave them be, Gaster would either finish searching the room, or they would continue on their way.

It was taking a while, but things seemed to be going pretty smoothly…until Pup started tugging on June’s and Gaster’s hands, pointing to a particular door.

“What is it, Pup? What’s got you all in a tizzy?”

Pup took June’s hand and spelled it out hurriedly, so it took June a minute to sort out the jumble of letters the child had spelled.

S-E-C-R-E-T W-A-Y! T-H-A-T D-O-O-R!

“That’s your way out? Through there?”

Pup nodded.

“Sorry, Pup, but we can’t go there yet. We need to get my stuff.”

Pup frowned, looking a bit anxious, and glanced between June and the door before taking her hand again and nodding.

“Don’t worry, kiddo. We’ll get out of here soon. What’d I tell ya? I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, alright? Just stay close to me. I’ll protect you.”

Pup bobbed their head, cuddling June’s hand. June herself smiled fondly, the guard’s mouth twitching as if it were trying to match her smile, but the look disappeared soon enough as she had the guard turn and start down the hall again.

“Come on. We need to –”

The click of heels on the tiled floor stopped her, the guard’s keen ears shifting to catch the sound.

“Someone’s coming,” the guard hissed for the ravenette, Gaster then putting a hand on Pup as if he were leading or steering the child. They held onto June’s hand a little tighter, but didn’t otherwise show any signs of anything amiss. Together, the trio took a couple steps before the owner of the heels came into view.

June was glad her own face was obscured, and that the guard’s face would remain neutral as compared to her feelings, because the monster that rounded the corner was quite the sight. They appeared to be a robot monster (she hadn’t realized that was even possible), complete with silvery metal skin. They had well styled black hair, black pauldrons, black pants, and pink heeled boots to match a pink chest plate and belt with a pink heart. And they looked just as surprised to see the trio in the hallway as much as they were surprised to see this monster.

“Gaster, darling,” the robot cooed in a deep and sultry voice, “what are you doing out here?”

"K ycu vtcpuhgttkpi vjg jwocpu vq cpqvjgt tqqo. K pggfgf oqtg urceg," Gaster replied calmly. The robot tilted its head curiously.

“And why is Fletcher carrying this human?”

"Ujg ycu vqq jgcxa hqt og vq ectta oaugnh."

“Even with your gravity magic?”

"Ujg ku tgukuvcpv vq itcxkva ocike, wphqtvwpcvgna."

“That’s peculiar. I’ve never heard of a human resistant to _any_ kind of monster magic before,” the robot monster frowned, crossing their arms over their chest plate. “In that case, why not just wake her up and have her move herself?”

"Vjgtg ycu pq vgnnkpi jqy eqqrgtcvkxg ujg yqwnf dg qpeg ujg yqmg wr. Vjg ogp tgrqtvgf jgt cu dgkpi jkijna jquvkng, cpf K ycu pqv uwtg K eqwnf eqpvckp jgt qpeg ujg cyqmg," Gaster explained. Shit. His voice was becoming less and less believable. Whoever this was, was asking far too many questions…

“But isn’t that what the shock collars are for?”

Now or never, June realized as she cast her mind at the new monster. But despite being able to feel the monster’s mind, for whatever reason, June was unable to grasp it, and her influence slid right off the robot monster. To her surprise when she reeled her mind back in, he (she had been able to confirm it was a he) just shook his head and glanced in her direction with a suspicious look.

“What on earth…?”

"Ku uqogvjkpi ytqpi, Ogvvcvqp?"

The robot monster stayed silent, studying both June and the bat guard with narrowed eyes. June had the guard lean away from the other monster with a weird look.

“What’re you staring at?” June made the guard demand gruffly, hoping they sounded normal enough. No such luck, it seemed, as Mettaton leaned back in surprise, then leveled a glare at the taller members of the group.

“Someone had better start explaining why Ian is speaking in a double voice, darlings, or I might just have to call for reinforcements. Or perhaps I could handle it myself,” he added, summoning tiny magic bombs into his hands. Gaster took a step back and glanced at June in alarm.

“June, ora sarebbe un grande momento per la telepatia...” _(June, now would be a great time for your telepathy…)_

“I already tried!” the guard answered for her, also backing up. “I think my telepathy doesn’t work on _robot_ monsters, because my mind slid right off his like it was nothing!”

“I suppose that’ll be a no to the explanation, then. Too bad, darlings. You had your chance.”

Just as Mettaton prepared to throw the bombs in his hand, Pup dashed out from behind the bat monster, where June had been shielding them. She called to the child, but they ignored her in favor of running up to Mettaton and clinging to the robot’s leg.

And to June’s surprise, Mettaton stopped, a look of shock on his own face.

“Pup, darling! What on earth – what are you doing here? I thought you got out!”

“You _know_ this guy, Pup?”

Mettaton’s head shot up when the guard hissed Pup’s name in June’s place, glancing between June herself, the guard, and Gaster.

“So you know their name…you’re trying to escape, aren’t you? That’s why…she’s already awake. The girl is using her magic to control Ian somehow, correct?”

“Yes,” the guard sighed, voicing June’s frustration. “I’m using a skill called telepathy, which means I’m using my mind, not my magic, to control…Ian. But since my powers draw on a fraction of my magic anyway, essentially, yes. Only, we’re not technically escaping yet. We’re trying to find my stuff before we get the heck out of dodge.”

“Oh, is that all? Well I know where they took your things. Follow me, darlings.”

June and Gaster stood there, surprised at the robot’s sudden turn. He went from trying to stop them to helping them at the drop of a hat.

“Seriously? Just like that, you’re gonna help us?”

“Yes, really. Just like that. But I’m not doing it for you, darling. I’m doing it for Pup. Now come on, we haven’t got all day. Oh, and we’ll want to let go of Fletcher. With me to escort you around, there’s no need for a second guard.”

Well, he was right, but the high-and-mighty, know-it-all attitude was irritating. Still, June had the bat guard put her down before she began assembling false memories for him to explain why they were down here instead of back by the door. Once the memories were ready, June planted them where they needed to go in the monster’s mind. That done, she broke contact, sighing as she released the power. She actually had to lean on Gaster a bit, more drained than she realized she was going to be from using her telepathy. Once the guard shook off the lingering effects of the mind-control she’d just performed on him, Mettaton and Gaster explained what happened and what was going on. With the guard sent away, they turned their focus on June.

“Are you alright, darling? You don’t look very good. And that’s not even talking about your outfit.”

“I’m fine,” she grumbled, waving them off as Pup came over and patted her thigh with a concerned look. “I’m alright. Just used more of my energy today than I thought. I’ll be okay. And what’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Oh, nothing, darling. Absolutely nothing…” the robot answered with raised hands, surrendering to her defensive tone. “Anyway, we had better get moving. Come on, this way.”

June glared at the robot’s back, Pup laughing silently behind a hand as they flitted back and forth between the teen and Mettaton, Gaster smiling amusedly. They walked in silence for a bit, only really broken when someone else would walk by. Then June would pretend to have her hands bound behind her as they walked, since if she were really being escorted elsewhere to be experimented on, she would be fighting tooth and nail if they left her unbound. A quick explanation and a murderous look from June would send whoever it was scurrying away without needing to look closer. Once they reached the room, Mettaton told them to wait outside while he fetched June’s things.

“It will look less suspicious if I’m the one getting them,” he explained with a flip of his hair. June begrudgingly agreed, and into the room he disappeared.

As they waited, June took the chance to better survey their surroundings. The walls and floor were the same grungy white she’d noticed before, but a closer look at the plate attached to the wall next to the room the monsters had kept her things made June recoil in surprise and mild fear. “Exam Room 4,” the plate read, which immediately made her anxiety skyrocket. Exam rooms were only needed in medical facilities, and boy howdy did she have a bad history with those. Since having to go to the hospital several times too many as a child from her father’s abuse, she’d developed a sort of phobia of anything relating to the medical profession: nurses, doctors, hospitals, ambulances, paramedics…she even had a hard time making herself walk into a dentist or veterinarian’s office. (Though the dentist and the vet were a bit easier than a clinic or hospital.)

And the second she gasped and flinched away from the sign, Gaster and Pup instantly jumped to her side.

“Cosa c'è che non va, June?” _(What’s wrong, June?)_

June froze in place, clenching her jaw as she tried to get her heart rate to slow back down. As far as she knew, Gaster was the only doctor in the building, she rationalized. And this place didn’t look like an old hospital. She would have known right away if it was. Still, she couldn’t get herself to relax, so through clenched teeth, she hissed, “What…what was this building?”

“Che cosa?” _(What?)_

“This building. What was it before you came here?”

“Io... Non lo so,” _(I…I don’t know.)_ Gaster answered, looking a little frightened by the tension and urgency in June’s tone. “Credo che è stato usato per trattare gli animali malati o feriti, tuttavia, dovuto le gabbie essere presente quando siamo arrivati.” _(I believe it was used to treat sick or wounded animals, however, due to the cages being present when we arrived.)_

June nodded, calming ever so slightly.

“So a vet’s office, then. Just a vet’s office. Nothing to get freaked out over…”

Pup patted her leg gingerly, causing her to jump. When she lowered a shaking hand down to them to spell to whatever it was they wanted to say, they first just held her hand, helping her steady it.

O-K-A-Y?

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just…can’t stand places like this. It’s worse with hospitals and the like, but I can handle a vet’s office. I’ll just be…really on edge until we get the f…frick outta here.”

Pup cuddled her hand gently, as if to say that they were there for her as much as she was for them. She gave them a shaky, but affectionate smile in return, gently ruffling their hair. Mettaton then finally stepped out with June’s things, whispering when he asked what she needed.

“Uh, all of it. But right this second, the watch.”

He nodded and handed it over, June slipping it back on with ease. She quickly checked that it was still on and operational (it was, thank god), before turning to Gaster.

“It’d probably be best if you stopped speaking Italian from now on. With this on, I can actually understand your normal speech.”

"Qj. Jqy wughwn! Hqt pqy, c uqwpf vcevkecn ejqkeg. K'nn vta vq tgogodgt htqo pqy qp."

Mettaton glanced at the watch with interest, reaching out to touch it when June caught the movement from her peripheral vision and pulled her hand away, leveling a glare at the robot.

“Watch it, buddy. I still don’t trust you.”

Mettaton _hmph_ ed and tossed his head, folding his arms across his chest plate and posing like a diva who’d just been told no.

“Probably for the best you don’t. Now, where to next?”

Pup hopped up and down excitedly, waving for attention. When both Mettaton and June presented the child with their hands, they carefully spelled out their words into both.

S-E-C-R-E-T W-A-Y-S!

“Right. We need to backtrack. The branch in the hallway you met us at. There’s a door near there that Pup’s referring to.”

“I see. Very well. Come along, then.”

June huffed, still not liking Mettaton’s attitude, but going along with it anyway. After all, in this situation, it wasn’t as if the three of them could refuse the help. And maybe it was just his way. Who knew? Either way, June took Pup’s offered hand and walked slowly behind Mettaton and Gaster…who seemed to be muttering and whispering about something between themselves. June was having a hard time concentrating on what they were saying, both due to her anxiety and the echo of their footsteps on the tiled floor, so she eventually quit trying to eavesdrop and focused on keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings. If someone should spot them from behind, or catch the four of them as they passed a hallway or something…

The four of them actually managed to make it back to the door (marked “Treatment,” June now noticed) that Pup had previously gotten so excited over without incident. Now that they were possibly standing at the threshold of freedom, however, June hesitated, not sure if the bad feeling she was getting was from her anxiety, or her gut telling her something was actually wrong. True, this had all been a little too easy in her mind, but she could also blame it on paranoia from the medical setting. When Mettaton asked why she was waiting, she explained, but ended up shaking her head at herself as well and folding her arms protectively in front of herself.

“I mean, it could just be nothing and I’m making a big deal out of nothing,” she concluded, curling her hair behind her ear and glancing around. “Actually, that’s probably it. I mean, I dunno. I just…I have my doubts, but I’m also really anxious to leave. Ugh…”

Mettaton sighed dramatically and tossed his head, frowning.

“Well if you’re not sure, then that’s no good to us, is it? Why even bother saying something?”

“You asked, Tin Man,” June snapped, hugging herself. “And it very well _could_ be something, so _I_ suggest you watch your sassy-ass little mouth, ya overgrown soup can.”

She cringed when she realized she’d cursed again and turned slightly towards Pup.

“Don’t go repeating that to Sans or Papyrus, ‘kay kiddo? Anyway, there’s only one way to get out of here safely, so let’s not waste any more time standing around arguing about it. The longer we’re here, the more we risk getting caught – and the antsier I’m gonna get. So let’s just get a move on already.”

As June finished her statement, she laid a hand on the knob to the treatment center and gave it a quick twist.

Then the building’s alarms began shrieking, making all four freeze in their tracks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Gaster Translations:** "Hello. I hope the men here did not rough you up too much. I...hope it is not too much to ask how you got out of your cage?"  
>  "You know my brothers?"  
> "I was transferring the humans to another room. I needed more space."  
> "She was too heavy for me to carry myself."  
> "She is resistant to gravity magic, unfortunately."  
> "There was no telling how cooperative she would be once she woke up. The men reported her as being highly hostile, and I was not sure I could contain her once she awoke."  
> "Is something wrong, Mettaton?"  
> "Oh. How useful! For now, a sound tactical choice. I'll try to remember from now on."  
> 


	50. Burgerpants (Actually) Has a Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, no Gaster speak in this one, but there is a bit of a graphic depiction of multiple character deaths in this chapter, as well as a minor mention of blood early on. The blood mention is so small, I'm not going to fence it off this time, but it's really small - May gets hurt, and a cat licks at a gash on her leg. That's the summary of it. XD Anyway, for the character deaths, I'll fence it off, but I won't leave a summary of it in the end notes this time. May summarizes it herself within the chapter, so you guys won't be missing too much. :) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this one, and I'll see you next week for more! -S

The longer May, Chara, and Asriel were in Hotland, the more of an annoyance the “voice” in the ravenette’s head became. It eventually quit trying to convince her to hurt the monsters, but instead started messing with her in other ways…like randomly tripping her as she walked, and continuing its narration of what was going on around her. There were more than a few times where Chara had to calm her down because she was getting so frustrated with the entity messing with her. (As soon as she realized it was the “voice” that kept tripping her, it also dawned on her that this thing was far more than just a disembodied voice.)

Then she saw it for the first time. From across one of the many pits of lava as it seemed to stand on another platform, it bore glowing red eyes into her, the magma below seeming to really shine off its silver skin. When May blinked, it was gone. When May asked Chara about the thing she’d seen, the child had no idea what she was talking about. But the more May saw it, the closer it seemed to get, making her somewhat nervous…despite its rather odd and mostly unintimidating appearance. The robotic-looking…whatever it was (monster? Ghost? May couldn’t be for sure) didn’t stop at scaring her with that, though.

When the black-haired, pink-high-heeled-boot-wearing entity appeared right in front of her, May gasped and backpedaled quickly, startled. The next second, however, her gasp was one of pain as a splitting headache tore through her mind, knocking her to her knees. She managed to force her eyes open again after a moment, but the pain was still present – though May hardly noticed from the shock of what she was seeing.

**_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_ **

She watched in horror as the monsters around her – what had to be the versions of them from the original timeline, anyway – shook and trembled, crying out as their Souls were ripped apart by seemingly nothing. As they fell and turned to dust, May turned her dumbstruck gaze to where Asriel and Chara were supposed to be standing. But Chara, looking terrified, was intangible and quickly turning invisible, like a ghost disappearing. And Asriel was nowhere in sight – but where he had been standing was a single wilted golden flower.

“ _Save them,_ ” the entity whispered from everywhere, yet nowhere. Chara reached out for May, seeming to scream in agony…but there was no sound. Monsters continued to die around her, and May’s eyes and lungs stung from the dust clogging the air. Just when May thought she couldn’t take any more, she saw the Underground itself beginning to disintegrate before her eyes. It was breaking down, and bit by bit, May started to see something beyond – and it filled her with fear. Looking at it made her own pain exponentially worse, and…the only way she could ever describe the sensation was as if someone had filled her head with the static you’d see and hear from a poor or nonexistent TV signal. And yet, through the static, she still heard the entity whispering to her, now joined by another, much more familiar voice.

**_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_ **

“ _Save them…_ ” the two voices hissed, one desperate, one calm and confident. “ _Only you can…save them, child…save them…before it’s too late…_ ”

When she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, May unleashed a screech of primal fear, jerking away from the touch violently. She then scrambled to her feet and made a mad dash past the spot she’d been frozen to the whole time she’d watched that horrible thing, racing away as fast as her feet could carry her. Wind whipping through her hair, voices calling out to her as she sped past, May blindly ran further into Hotland, everything blurring by her impossibly fast. She couldn’t stop, she didn’t want to, nothing could slow her panicked flight –

Nothing, except the small furry thing that she tripped over. May was moving far too fast to be able to even see the thing, let alone stop or avoid it, so when it tripped her, she shrieked and went flying, the momentum of her high speeds sending her crashing into a wall. The crash stunned her, and once she recovered enough to sit up again, everything screamed in pain…no, not everything. Just her body. The actual noise she kept hearing was the meow of a cat. Several cats. Geez, they were really making a din over her arrival – how many cats were there? May decided it really didn’t matter – she had to see if she could access her magic to heal herself.

But as she struggled to get to her feet (a very painful process when she was sure she had bruised or broken most of her body), she heard a voice appear next to her just before a pair of paw-like hands gingerly scooped her up.

“Whoa, there, kitten!” the person purred as she struggled weakly in their hands, despite whimpering in pain. “Take it easy. I won’t hurt you. Seems like you’ve done a pretty good job of that yourself.”

As the person put her down on her feet (then had to keep a hand on her when they both discovered she couldn’t stand on her own just yet), May was surprised to find that the static and headache was gone, and she had no trouble seeing or breathing. She glanced around, seeing that wherever she was, it wasn’t trying to break apart. The Underground was still whole and standing. So what on earth had just happened? And where the heck was she?

Finally looking up, May blinked in surprise at the orange cat monster she now faced.

“Wait…haven’t we met before?”

“Why, yes we have, kit. I’m surprised you remember. But…I can’t seem to recall where…”

May wracked her brain as well, trying to remember where she’d seen this monster before. Then she remembered, perking up right away.

“Oh! You were delivering a message to Toriel and ran into me and my sister! You helped guide us to where we needed to be in Waterfall after that! We just never got introduced at the time.”

“Yes, that’s right! Thank you for remembering that, kitten,” he purred. (From the personality, May had to guess that whoever this was had been swapped with Muffet, so she didn’t mind him calling her kit or kitten. It was probably his version of calling everyone “dearie” the way Muffet did.) “Then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tristen, though most monsters call me Burgerpants.”

“Oh. Well, I think I’ll call you Tristen, if that’s okay,” May replied, making a face at the name Burgerpants. “Anyway, I’m Mayflower. Mayflower Elizabeth Skies. But everyone calls me May!”

She grinned and reached up a hand for him to shake, then instantly winced and hissed in pain, retracting it. Tristen’s ears laid flat against his head the second she hissed, kneeling down to her level to better examine her injuries.

“Careful, there, kitten. You tore yourself up pretty bad. How on earth did you manage all this damage?”

“I don’t know,” she answered through gritted teeth, trying to stay as still as possible. “I was just running and all of a sudden I tripped, and I ran into the wall. Felt kinda like what I imagine a car wreck is like…”

One of the cats came over and meowed at May, gingerly head-butting her leg and licking at some of the blood from a gash she’d gotten. She flinched and winced, but didn’t move to shoo the cat away.

“Ah. It seems you accidentally ran into our den and tripped when Felicity here didn’t move fast enough out of your way. She says she’s quite sorry for tripping you up, kitten – she’s an older cat who doesn’t move like she used to.”

“O-oh,” May replied, slowly bending to pet the cat a little. “Apology accepted, Felicity. I’m sorry for tripping on you. I didn’t see you when I was running. I…didn’t see much of anything, actually. I was going too fast.”

The old Siamese trilled lightly at May and purred as she took the petting. Tristen looked at May with surprise and clear approval.

“She says you’re forgiven. Though I must admit, kit, that I’m a little confused by what she tells me. All my cats tell me that you were moving far faster than they have ever seen anything move before, and it was luck that got them out of the way before Felicity. What are they talking about?”

“I don’t know, honestly. I…I saw something that really scared me…I’ve never been so scared before. And I did the first thing that came to me – I ran. I ran as fast as I could away from it. Honestly, the thought of what spooked me so bad still sends chills down my spine…” May added with a shudder, thinking of all the dust and the Underground falling apart around her. “I was so scared that I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, so it really didn’t register with me that I couldn’t actually _see_ where I was going very well. Everything was a blur. Literally. Now that I think about it, though…there’s no way I can naturally move that fast. So fast that my surrounding blur like that. Oh. Oh! Oh my god! Chara and Asriel! I just realized!”

Despite the pain it caused her to do so, she quickly spun around, looking for the small goat monster and other human child.

“I must have left them behind when I ran off like that! Oh god, I hope they’re okay…Chara’s gonna be so mad! And poor Asriel is gonna be so freaked out and worried about me! Ooh…”

Tristen let go of her once she seemed able to hold herself upright, but his tail swished with interest and amusement when she mentioned the pair.

“Oh, you know them, kitten? And you got separated? Oh dear. I hope whatever it was that scared you didn’t affect them, too. That Asriel really is a character…but a sweet boy. And Chara looks after him so well, bless that little kit,” Tristen continued, oblivious to May’s distress as she remembered more of the horrifying whatever-it-was that she’d seen before.

Whatever it was that the entity haunting her had shown her, it obviously wasn’t real – or it wasn’t yet. But it had seemed and felt completely real, and that was what terrified her more. In that (dare she call it?) vision, she’d seen Chara disappearing – and it hadn’t looked pleasant. And she had no idea what happened to Asriel, or why there had been a dead flower where he’d been standing before. All she knew was there was something wrong, and she desperately wanted to find them and make sure they were okay.

“ _You remember…_ ” the entity whispered in her mind as she whirled around, looking for the robot-like thing. “ _You can save them, darling…you can save us all…_ ”

Yeah, she got that. Since they (he?) kept asking her to “save them” during the vision, she guessed she could somehow save them (and by them, she guessed the monsters). That was her goal anyway. But how? Wasn’t what she was doing enough?

“Um…sorry, yes, I know them,” May finally answered, shaking off her thoughts and mentally telling the voice/entity/thing to hush. “I’m sorry to intrude like this and be so rude, but can you tell me the way out of here? I need to find them again. They’re sure to be worried about me, and I’m definitely worried about them.”

“Ah, it’s no trouble, kit. But I’m afraid you’re not in much of a condition to go anywhere, and looking like that…well, if it were me, I’d only end up even more worried than before. Come with me, kitten. I’ll patch you up and send you on your way.”

May nodded, following the cat monster deeper into his “den”, taking the time to dispel the strings she found on him while she was thinking of it.

Save them…save them how? She was already undoing Error’s work in making the swapped pairs fight each other. What else could she do? May wracked her brain as the cat monster sat her down at a table and slid a drink and burger in front of her.

“Something must really be eatin’ ya for you to be thinkin’ so hard, little buddy. Wanna talk about it?” Tristen said before making a face at himself and shrugging, like a cat that messed up but made it look like they meant to do that a second later. May noticed, but didn’t comment. Save him his kitty pride, after all…

“Just…I came here to help everyone. But I’m starting to get the feeling that there’s something I’m missing. That I’m not doing enough or something.”

She shrugged, then absentmindedly took a bite of the burger, chewing thoughtfully. Tristen stewed on that a moment before replying.

“What would give you the impression you’re not doing enough?”

“Well…I had this…I dunno what to call it. A vision, maybe? Or a hallucination – the heat of Hotland playing tricks on me, maybe. Anyway, whatever it was, it was awful. It was what scared me so bad. Because…I saw people dying, everywhere I looked. All the people I’d helped, turning to dust right before my eyes. And then the Underground started collapsing around me! And I kept hearing this voice, these voices, saying ‘save them, save them’. But right now, no one’s dying. The world isn’t ending. And I’m _trying_ to save everyone. But from what I saw…I dunno, Tristen. I just have this feeling like I’m not doing something right, or like I’m missing something. And I need to figure out what it is before it’s too late. Before I _can’t_ save them.”

May stopped eating, not really having much of an appetite anymore. Still, feeling the magic from the monster food coursing through her helped keep her calm, and it was definitely helping with her injuries. Not wanting to be rude, she nibbled a little more at the burger in the silence that followed her words, then sipped at the drink he’d given her. (She had to resist the urge to spit it back out. Whatever it was, it tasted like warm seawater. Monsters sure had some weird food…)

“That’s…some pretty heavy stuff, there, kit. And I can see why you were so frightened. Seeing something like that would scare anyone. But like you said – no one is dying. The world isn’t ending. And you’re doing the best you know how. You can’t try much harder than that.”

Well, he had a point…but May still felt as if something was off. The nagging feeling of missing something persisted and she shrugged noncommittally. There wasn’t much else she could think of doing. But rather than letting the awkward moment settle, Tristen took the opportunity to nag her to finish her food, telling her it was good for her. She grinned when she replied, “Well, yeah. It’s monster food, right? Of course it’s good for me! All monster food has healing properties, right?”

The cat monster seemed pleased by her answer as she began to eat again, checking over her injuries once she was done. (Oh yeah. Wasn’t she going to use her magic to heal herself? Well, that wasn’t exactly safe to do in front of Tristen, was it? Oh well. If the nice monster was willing to patch her up, who was she to refuse his kindness?)

As he proceeded to clean and bandage her remaining injuries (most of them healed by the food and drink), some of Tristen’s cats came over to May and began purring as they rubbed up against the girl, accosting her for attention and pets. The giggly, bubbly, happy child obliged willingly, though after a while, Tristen kept having to shoo them away so they wouldn’t contaminate her injuries or get in his way. (Or, according to him, make her pass out from over-exposure to cuteness. She had to laugh at that.) With what little injuries of hers remained properly cleaned and bandaged finally, he gave the girl some extra monster food for the road and led her to the opposite end of his den. Once at the door, he gave the bright-eyed child a hug and wished her well on her mission, his cats giving her noisy farewells of their own.

With the cat’s den behind her, May gripped the straps of her backpack (which she still had somehow?) in apprehension, wondering how she was going to find Chara and Asriel, and if they were alright. But no sooner did she blink away the change in lighting (she had been able to see just fine, but she hadn’t really realized just how dark Tristen’s den had been) than she heard a pair of gasps, then had two bodies approximately her size tackle her simultaneously. The three toppled to the ground, all the air having been knocked out of May on contact, so she couldn’t squeak in surprise as they fell.

With her breath back a moment later, she groaned, and the two on top of her hurried to scramble off, hovering over her together with worried expressions.

“OH NO! WE DIDN’T HURT YOU, DID WE, HUMAN? OH NO! YOU ARE INDEED HURT! I SEE THE BANDAGES NOW! OH, I AM TERRIBLY SORRY, HUMAN!!”

“Geez, kid! Ya coulda gotten yourself killed, runnin’ around like that! Ya nearly did, from the looks of it! ‘N goin’ off without us to escort you was really dangerous, that crazy speed or no!”

“CHARA, THIS IS NO TIME TO SCOLD THE HUMAN FOR HER RECKLESS BEHAVIOR! EVEN IF I AGREE THAT ENDANGERING HERSELF WAS VERY UNWISE!! SHE IS HURT AND NEEDS ATTENTION! WE SHOULD TAKE HER TO MOM OR DAD RIGHT AWAY!!!”

“For once, Asriel, I disagree. But look – her injuries wouldn’t be bandaged if someone didn’t already take care of her, so I don’t think her injuries are that bad. And there’s no way we caused them. They wouldn’t be already bandaged if we’d caused them. Right, May?”

Both kids turned their attention to the ravenette, finally sitting up, staring at them. She’d been listening to them argue without really hearing it, focused solely on one thought: they were alive. They were fine. Whatever she’d seen really hadn’t been real, because here they both were, more worried about her safety and health. Chara wasn’t disappearing, and Asriel hadn’t…whatever had happened to him. She still hadn’t figured that out, but had a vague feeling it had something to do with that wilted flower she’d seen. Either way, it didn’t matter, she realized as relief hit her system hard and fast, tears forming in her eyes. They were alive and here and alright and worried about her. Despite the nagging guilt and need to reassure them, she knew she really needed to reassure herself before she could comfort them. So the girl, acting mostly on impulse croaked out a broken, albeit happy, sob, and threw her arms around the two of them in a hug.

“H-HUMAN?!”

“Kid, what…? Are you okay?”

“You’re alive…you’re both alive and okay…” she sobbed, hugging them tighter. Asriel didn’t seem to understand, if his inaction at her words said anything, but it was clear that Chara did on some level, because after a moment’s hesitation, they hugged her back.

“…yeah. We’re okay, May. We’re safe,” they replied softly, the tone in their voice saying it all. Chara really did understand. At this, Asriel finally hugged her back, evidently sensing something now that he did understand. They both let her cling to them until the tears subsided, when she finally wiped her eyes and tried to even out her breathing.

“S-sorry, guys. I just…I saw something really scary earlier, and I…I just was really happy to see that what I thought I saw wasn’t real.”

“WAS THAT WHY YOU MADE THAT NOISE WHEN CHARA TOUCHED YOU AND WHY YOU RAN AWAY?” Asriel asked, his voice soft and gentle. It was rare to hear a tone like this from any Papyrus, so May had an inkling that it was equally rare in this version of Asriel.  She sniffed and nodded.

“Yeah. It scared me so bad, I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. I had no idea it was even Chara touching me, let alone that what I was seeing wasn’t real.”

“Then that rules out that it was a bad mirage,” Chara frowned, sighing. “Do you have any idea what caused what you saw, kiddo?”

She had a theory, yes. But saying so in front of Asriel? Not gonna happen. That’d only worry the poor goat child more. But how to convey that to Chara…?

“No _sound_ ideas,” May replied, heavily emphasizing the intended word, hoping to see Chara understanding her pun-laced meaning. When that didn’t seem quite clear enough, she tried again.

“Not to _voice_ my doubts about my own sanity or anything, but…it could have been just a mirage. I have a very active imagination, after all.”

That seemed to do it, at the expense of Asriel now narrowing his eyes at the girl.

“YOU WERE SPEAKING IN PUNS JUST NOW, WEREN’T YOU?”

“…maybe…” she replied sheepishly, to which the boy exploded.

“ARGH!!! NOT YOU, TOO!! SUCH BETRAYAL!!” he wailed, May wincing with a much needed giggle.

“Sorry, Asriel. To tell you the truth, I’ve always liked puns. My sister knows that, so she got pretty good at telling them just for my benefit. I think they’re really funny,” she answered with a helpless shrug. “I’m just not very good at telling them myself.”

“I dunno, kiddo,” Chara added with a cheeky grin of their own, “I thought they were pretty _sound_ myself.”

“CEASE THIS AWFUL PUNNING AT ONCE!!!” he shouted.

“But bro, we have such a sweet _harmony_ going.”

“STOP!!”

“Yeah! These jokes really _resonate_ with me!” May giggled, happy to throw one of her own in for once. Maybe she was getting better at it after all. All those Sanses had to be rubbing off on her.

“ENOUGH!!!”

May and Chara were both laughing now, the mood having lifted considerably. (And was it her imagination, or had Chara started looking at her differently after she said she liked puns? Nah, it was probably nothing.)

“But isn’t laughter such a _melodious_ sound?” Chara winked at May for effect, her laughter as she fell over on the ground drowned out by Asriel’s frustrated shriek.

Then May did the cutest thing – she reached over and tapped the end of Asriel’s snout lightly, giggling as she squeaked out, “Boop!” The perplexed goat child bleated in confusion, then blushed furiously, earning more hysterical laughter from the other two.

“PLEASE DO NOT ‘BOOP’ MY NOSE!!!”

Once they finally calmed down, the three got up, the siblings looking over May once more.

“Seriously, though, kid – how the heck’d ya get so torn up? Burgerpants and his cats give ya a bad time?”

May vaguely remembered hearing those words before in a much more sinister context and shivered, not really remembering why.

“Uh, no, he didn’t. And I’d rather call him Tristen. Calling him Burgerpants doesn’t seem very nice. Anyway, it got so banged up because I was running so fast and tripped over one of his cats by mistake. I crashed into a wall.”

Asriel winced lightly, while Chara full-on cringed.

“Ouch, buddy. That had to suck. You were goin’ pretty fast.”

May nodded, frowning.

“Um, for clarification’s sake…just how fast was I going? I couldn’t really tell…”

The siblings exchanged a glance, then looked at May in surprise.

“What?”

“WELL…IT IS JUST…”

“We kinda thought you’d know what the heck that was all about, kiddo.”

“Oh. Um, no. So, uh…Asriel, I kinda have a confession to make. And I’m guessing it’s not what you think it is. I have a theory as to how it was possible for me to run the way I did, but I need to explain this first.”

Chara had a feeling they knew where this was going and tried to gesture to May not to do it. She had given her word not to tell Asriel about any of the really crazy stuff, after all. But, well…circumstances demanded he know at least a little more than he already did, so she didn’t have much of a choice. She flashed Chara an apologetic look before continuing.

“So all humans have a particular color to their Soul, right? Well, for some reason, mine has two. I know, I know. That alone is pretty surprising. But there’s more. The two colors? Apparently, they give me access to magic. Which makes me a mage. Make sense so far?”

Asriel stared at May, absolutely dumbfounded, but he nodded all the same. The look in his eyes wasn’t fear, so May took it as a good sign and kept going.

“Okay. Good. So, the thing is about me…the two colors in my Soul dictate what kind of magic I use, just like a regular mage. But because I’m weird and have more than one color, I also get more than just regular magic for what I can do. I also have enhanced strength, meaning I’m really, really strong. But that’s all we knew about until just now. Evidently, my powers are slow coming in, because…well, the idea for why I ran as fast as I did is because we found a new power. Enhanced speed, or, um…basically, running really, really fast. Though why I didn’t figure this out in – um, why I didn’t get this power until now, I mean, I don’t know. And it’s weird. I have super strength and super speed, combined with purple and green magic? My powers make no freaking sense. Um. I’m rambling. Anyway, so…questions?”

Asriel nodded, looking between the two human kids, while Chara was giving May a pointedly frustrated look.

“YOU…WERE SPEAKING MORE TO ME THAN CHARA. DID CHARA ALREADY KNOW THIS?”

“Most of it, yeah. They didn’t want you or any of the other monsters freaking out about it, though, so they asked me not to tell. I’m only bringing it up now because it’s the only thing that explains what happened. Sorry, to both of you. Chara, for having to go back on my word. And Asriel…for having to keep it a secret in the first place.”

Asriel looked between May and Chara with an expression of hurt. Chara was more focused on being upset with May, however, and the guilty look on her face did little (if anything) to ease the betrayal on the goat-child’s muzzle.

“You said you wouldn’t tell him!” Chara said pointedly, glaring at the girl. May shrank a little under their tone.

“I know, but…how else was I gonna explain how I ran away so fast? I couldn’t just lie to him.”

“Yeah, you could’ve!” Chara argued, their crimson eyes seeming to glow for a moment. May took a step back, alarmed. That look in their eye…the different levels of rage, disgust, and hatred in that gaze…it was far too similar to the way Chara from the other universe looked at her before they’d kill her. May froze, her own expression like that of a frightened and cornered animal, flashing back briefly to those moments right before that awful blade, glittering in the pseudo-sunlight of the Hall of Judgement, would strike. She tried to blink them away, firmly reminding herself that the Chara from that universe wasn’t like that anymore, and this Chara wasn’t going to hurt her. It didn’t do much to help, with her gasping and flinching when Chara took a step closer to the ravenette.

She instantly regretted the action, seeing the surprise on Chara’s own face as she relaxed, wrapping her arms protectively around herself and fighting the urge to run.

“S-sorry. I…I just…I’m not…bad memory,” she finally murmured, turning away from the other two, ashamed that she was having such a bad reaction to her friend. Chara, however, seemed to pick up on what the problem was, stepping back and giving her space.

“MAY, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND,” Asriel said plainly, still confused and hurt. She redirected her attention to him, glad for something else to focus on. “WHY WOULD YOU TELL CHARA OF YOUR BEING A MAGE AND AGREE TO KEEP SECRETS IF YOU ARE AFRAID OF THEM? WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF CHARA, ANYWAY? AND WHY WOULD YOU KEEP SECERTS IN THE FIRST PLACE? WHEN I THINK ABOUT IT, I REALIZE YOU HAVE NOT ONCE LIED TO ME, FOR WHICH I AM GRATEFUL, BUT…I STILL FAIL TO UNDERSTAND…”

May sighed, curling some hair behind her ear, a habit she knew she had picked up from her sister.

“It’s…it’s not easy to explain, Asriel. I’m…I know it seems like I am, but I’m not actually afraid of Chara. I’m reacting to something they’re reminding me of, and that’s why I’m…acting the way I am. It’s not just them, trust me,” she added with a shudder, thinking of each time now she’d reacted poorly to being touched by gravity magic since the Handplates Gaster had tried to strangle her with his. “And I told them because I had to. Otherwise, I probably would have kept it to myself. Not because I wanted to, but because I know mages and monsters don’t…they don’t exactly have the best track record, Asriel. And I didn’t want anyone to freak out or be scared of me because of my powers. I’d never lift a finger to hurt anyone, not ever…but some people wouldn’t know that, or wouldn’t trust me anyway, even if they already knew me. Monsters are better at it than humans, but…I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase ‘people fear what they don’t know and don’t understand.’ I just never thought I’d be saying it in reference to myself…”

There was a beat of silence, but after the moment had passed, Asriel took a deep breath and stepped forward, wrapping May in a comforting embrace, surprising the young mage.

“WHILE I CANNOT SAY I FULLY UNDERSTAND YOUR REASONS, MAY, AS I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY CAUSE TO WORRY OF MAKING OTHERS AFRAID OF ME…I CAN SAY IN FULL HONESTY THAT I FORGIVE YOU FOR KEEPING YOUR SECRETS FROM ME. I ASSUME THAT YOUR BEING A MAGE IS NOT THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE KEPT FROM ME, AND I ALSO ASSUME THAT CHARA KNOWS WHAT THESE THINGS ARE. BUT IF YOU ARE KEEPING THEM FROM ME, I KNOW YOU ARE TRULY DOING IT WITH ONLY MY BEST INTERESTS IN MIND, SO I WILL FORGIVE YOU FOR KEEPING THEM FROM ME. I WILL FORGIVE YOU, AND TRUST YOU, BECAUSE YOU CLEARLY KNOW BETTER THAN I WHY IT IS BEST FOR ME NOT TO KNOW. AND IF YOU EVER CHANGE YOUR MIND AND WISH TO TELL ME…I WILL BE HERE TO LISTEN. FOR I, THE AMAZING ASRIEL, AM VERY AMAZING LIKE THAT!!” the goat-boy declared, his rainbow scarf fluttering in a non-existent breeze.

May and Chara stood stunned. For Asriel (or any Papyrus, really), that was deep. And more understanding than she thought he was going to be. Yet, somehow, it came as no real surprise that he accepted it, giving his forgiveness as readily as he did his unwavering kindness and support. Still, it touched May, and she felt the prickle of tears trying to form from the sudden upwelling of emotion in her heart. Though he had let go of her with his speech concluded, the small ravenette now sprang upon the boy, flinging her arms around him and getting a surprised bleat from him.

“Keep that up, and I’m gonna cry!” she cried with a gentle laugh, burying her face in the soft fur of his neck and shoulder. “But seriously, Asriel…thank you. You really are amazing. Thank you for understanding…”

Asriel hummed quietly, hugging her back and nuzzling her shoulder himself. It seemed she had a way of making these tender moments with one of the two kids…only to have them ruined by the other child. And, as if on cue, Chara broke the moment by saying, “You two are gonna rot somebody’s teeth out. Then again, you two seem to be so _sweet_ on each other…”

May blushed, instantly letting go of Asriel, while Asriel’s face turned red under his snowy fur, yelling at his sibling for the implication and the pun. Chara just grinned and laughed, which then got them laughing too, despite themselves. After calming back down, May started to continue forward, then noticed Chara glancing in her direction with a look before turned to Asriel.

“Hey, bro, would you mind going ahead and getting us a table? You’ll get there faster than we can, and May’s looking a little exhausted.”

“OH, OF COURSE! THE AMAZING ASRIEL WILL GO AND RESERVE THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE FOR THE BEST HUMANS!”

And without another word, he tore off around the corner, going somewhere to save them all a table. May, curious of why Chara wanted to be alone with her, turned to them with a little tilt of her head.

“So, I guess I’d best just get to the point. What the heck was that all about back there? One minute you’re just fine, and the next you’re freaking out and tearing off like a bat out of Hell.”

Their expression was relaxed, but their tone was more serious and a touch worried. And, May rationalized, they had every right to be. After all, they were the one she screamed at like a tiny banshee. So, frowning as she did, she slowly tried to explain what had happened. The result wasn’t pretty.

Chara stepped back from her, looking very alarmed.

“I…just… _what?!_ ”

“Yeah…makes sense why I flipped out, huh?”

The only answer they had to that was a numb nod.

“Just…how do you _see_ something like that?”

“I don’t know! I don’t have psychic powers, Chara! At least, I don’t think so. I really hope I don’t. Not if they’re gonna be like that.”

“Then what else was it?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know any more than you do at this point. I might be able to travel the multiverse or whatever, but that doesn’t make me all-knowing.” After a pause, May huffed a small laugh to herself, remembering that Chara from the previous universe had said something similar. _Just because she has extensive knowledge about timelines and universes and all this from the Void, doesn’t mean she knows everything._ Ironic.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just something you said to me in the last universe. Irony’s a funny thing…”

Chara just looked confused. May shook her head and waved to the other child turning back to the path.

“Come on. We probably shouldn’t keep Asriel waiting long.”

Chara nodded, starting to walk off, but realized May wasn’t following a second later. Looking back, they were thrown off by the girl still standing in place, arm bent outward towards them, as if offering it to the other child.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you to link arms with me.”

“Seriously?” they deadpanned.

May just stood there, a charming smile on her face as she waited.

“I’m not gonna take your arm. Now c’mon.”

They tried to walk off again, but May still didn’t budge.

“Really? Are you gonna make me do this?”

May pretended to think on it, then nodded vigorously, giving her arm an encouraging wiggle with a beaming grin.

Chara looked up to the ceiling before making their way to May with a resigned sigh and hooking arms.

“Can’t believe I’m doing – _ahh!_ ”

Without any warning, the smaller child started skipping, practically dragging Chara along. While it ended up not being far from the entrance to the next area, it was cut that much shorter by their speedy pace. May stopped just before they crashed into the doors, releasing Chara, who doubled over to catch their breath. May giggled and headed into the building, expecting Chara to be right behind her, but they were just heading to the door as she was letting it go. Chara rushed through, managing not to get hit somehow, even though the door was pretty much closed.

“Thanks for letting the door slam…in my face…?” they concluded slowly, a perplexed lilt to their voice. May gave them a confused look, tilting her head as she watched Chara reach out and touch the door before patting themselves down.

“Sorry about that. I thought you were right behind me. But are you okay? You’re acting kinda weird.”

Chara returned her gaze with a slightly confused one of their own, before recognition lit up their eyes.

“Oh geez…it’s kinda like what you were talking about, with saying I was a ghost. Because I swear the door was gonna hit me, but then it didn’t somehow?”

May’s expression lit up with concern, darting back to the child’s side and fluttering around them for a moment.

“That’s really not good, Chara! You shouldn’t suddenly be turning intangible!”

The brunette child shook the ravenette off, waving their hands.

“I-I’m sure it was just a coincidence or something. Anyway, let’s just get to Asriel before something else –”

They were interrupted by a gasp from across the lobby and a high-pitched greeting of, “Hello, Dearie!”

May let out a gasp of her own at realizing who it was, and was quick to grab Chara’s hand in excitement. They tensed as she dashed forward, dragging them along again until the pair reached the counter, May calling to the spider monster the whole way.

“Hey, Muffet! It’s good to see you again! We can’t really talk long, but – oh crap! Chara, are you okay?”

When she’d stopped abruptly, Chara’s momentum had kept them going, making them slam into the countertop. They groaned in response.

“Ahuhuhu~ That’s okay, dearie. It’s nice to see a friendly face once in a while, though. Speaking of, how is your friend’s face? That was a hard hit.”

May knelt beside Chara, checking them over.

“Might bruise, but looks like they’ll live. Anyway, sorry we can’t stay long. We’ve got someone waiting on us. Wouldn’t want him to worry. But it was nice seeing you again! Have a good day!”

“You too, dearies!” Muffet waved as May and Chara walked over to what appeared to be a restaurant, spotting Asriel quickly. Him jumping up and waving his hands helped.

“THERE YOU GUYS ARE! I WAS STARTING TO GET WORRIED.”

“Sorry, bro, we got _entranced_ by the front door.”

“NO!! THIS IS GOING TO BE A PUN-FREE MEAL, CHARA! ESPECIALLY AS WE HAVE A FRIEND WITH US.”

“Okay.”

“GOOD! I’M STARVING!! IT WAS REALLY BAD RIGHT BEFORE YOU BOTH CAME IN. IT WAS ODD.”

“What do you mean, Asriel? What was really bad? Are you alright?” May fussed, about to get out of her chair to look over him.

“I AM BETTER NOW. IT WAS STRANGE, THOUGH. LIKE A…CRAMPED FEELING CAME OVER ME. I DIDN’T LIKE IT.”

The human children exchanged a subtle look, then Chara plastered on a lazy look and waved their hand dismissively.

“Well, it’s over now, bro. But let us know if it happens again.”

May didn’t trust herself to say anything, so she forced a smile when Asriel agreed with a nod. When he wasn’t looking, the two humans shared another knowing, albeit worried, glance. It might be over for the moment, but if May was right…this wasn’t a coincidence. Something was afoot, and none of them were sure they were ready to find out what it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, almost forgot - the chapter will say it's a day late, but I'm posting it around midnight, so...technically it's on time? Sorry! I got too busy enjoying my day off and forgot about it... -S


	51. This Was Going to be a Long-Ass Chapter...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! No Gaster speak or any warnings to look out for in this one, just some good old fashioned plot and fluff. I hope you guys enjoy this one, and I'll see you next week for more! -S

Once the three finished their meal (May just sipped on a drink rather than eating, since Tristen had fed her before she left his lair), they set out once more for the Core.

“So do you actually know what it is you need to do to power that thing on your wrist?” Chara asked, pointing to the offending accessory. May shook her head, frowning at it.

“Not really. But I know that the Core is the only thing strong enough to power it, so that’s why we’re here. I kinda get the feeling we’ll know what we’re looking for when we see it, though.”

Chara hummed and frowned at that, not sure how else to respond. Asriel just looked on, tuning them out since he didn’t know what they were talking about, and instead kept his eye out for any monsters that may want to challenge the little ravenette.

As they walked through the Core and examined each room carefully, Chara and Asriel would occasionally experience more of those moments from earlier – with Chara turning intangible and Asriel feeling cramped and in pain. May would instantly flutter around both of them, wanting to help but not sure how. Once it would fade, they would continue on, with Chara and May getting more and more on edge. Then, almost to the end of the Core, May stopped.

“What’s the hold up?”

“Just…just hang on…don’t you feel that?”

May knelt and put a hand to the ground, feeling the ground beneath her palm practically vibrating.

“It’s another tremor!” she cried as it suddenly increased in intensity at the same time as Chara and Asriel both cried out. Accompanying the…whatever was happening to Chara and Asriel, the Underground had started shaking. Tremors were being reported all over, despite there not being any kind of cave-ins or anything else happening. May knew they were connected to what was happening to her companions somehow, but…what could she do against what appeared to be an earthquake?

When the tremors hit a lull rather than outright stopping, May risked a glance up at Chara and Asriel, getting a real shock. Chara was completely intangible, with their Soul floating before them, looking like it had previously shattered and someone had glued it back together poorly. Black goop dripped from their eyes and mouth, and it took a lot of effort on May’s part not to scream at the sight. And Asriel…was nowhere to be found. In his place, sat a very confused Flowey, with his Soul sitting in front of him. Like Chara’s, it looked as if it had shattered before and someone had glued it back together. Both Souls seemed to be coming undone, however, as if the bonds holding them together were failing.

Before May could examine the situation further, the tremors increased again, forcing her to focus more on her own stability than her companions. The second the tremors died down, May wobbled to her feet again, shooting a fearful glance to her friends. Relief crashed over her like a tidal wave when she saw that they were back to normal, but both badly shaken by the experience.

“WHAT…WHAT WAS THAT?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!” Asriel cried, looking to the two humans for answers. Chara looked to May, who first wrapped them both in a warm hug.

“I-I think…I think I know. It’ll only scare you if we tell you, Asriel, but please believe me when I say me and Chara are working on it. And we’re going to work on it some more right now. Will you wait here for us?”

The shaken goat child nodded, and May dragged Chara off to the side, lowering her voice so it wouldn’t carry to Asriel as she spoke.

“Chara…come on, sweetie. Look at me. I know you’re freaking out and really scared, but I need you to focus on me, okay? Hey!” she finally hissed, forcing Chara to lock eyes with her. “ _Look at me._ I know you’re scared. I am too. But we need to take a deep breath and stay calm. For Asriel.”

“R-right…calm down…for Asriel…”

After a couple more seconds, Chara managed to shake off their freaked out mentality, focusing on May again. She smiled sweetly, patting their rosy cheek both in comfort and support.

“There we go. You okay now, sweetie?”

Chara blinked and blushed, moving away from her hand.

“Again with the ‘sweetie’ thing…”

Now it was May’s turn to blink and blush, backing up a little.

“Sorry…hard habit to kick…but you seem okay, so…”

Chara nodded, shoving their hands into their pockets.

“Yeah, I’m alright now. Well, as alright as I’m gonna get. What the heck was that, exactly?”

“It’s what I was telling you about. That…thing that I saw, where you were turning back into a ghost and something happened to Asriel. It’s happening, and the tremors? I think that’s the Underground slowly falling apart. Not literally. Well, sort of? I mean, it’s not physically falling apart, but it’s…I don’t know. But during this tremor…I didn’t see it in my…vision thingy from before, but I looked up and your Souls were exposed. Only, something was really wrong with them. They looked like they’d been broken before, and someone did a really poor job putting them back together. I think…Chara, I think that there’s something deeper going on here, beyond Error’s strings pulling you guys apart. I’m not convinced this is Error’s doing. Whatever’s going on, it’s much bigger than him, and we’ve got to do something about it, _now_.”

Chara paled again at first, then blushed heavily when she mentioned their Souls being exposed. As she continued, however, the other child listened carefully to the rest of her explanation, the theory really catching their attention.

“I thought you said you could stop whatever was happening. What changed your mind about it being the Error guy? What makes you think it’s something deeper?”

“If it were Error, the effect would have worn off by now. None of this would be happening. And with your Souls exposed, I would have physically seen his strings. That didn’t happen. I think whatever’s happening here drew Error in, and that’s why he was messing with you guys. He was just a…a side effect. Whatever’s going on, it has to do with your guys’ Souls, and it’s on a much deeper level than I think even Error can reach. I mean, it looked like yours and Asriel’s Souls were coming apart at the seams, Chara. This is…I don’t know what to make of it, other than there’s something here that can’t be affected by just the little hand waving purple magic I do to dispel Error’s strings.”

Chara nodded. May knew her logic was sound, but she wasn’t really sure what she could do to combat this. If it was something more, something she couldn’t currently reach, then what would she have to do to fix it?

“If it’s really got something to do with our Souls, then it makes sense your current parlor trick wouldn’t work. That’s clearly something you can do at any time. From the sounds of it, whatever’s affecting us…it’ll require a more personal touch.”

May perked up a little, stepping closer to Chara, pale eyes burning with her desire and determination to help them however she could.

“What do you mean, Chara? Do you have an idea of what I can do to fix this?”

“Maybe. It’s far-fetched, but…it’s something.”

“I’m listening.”

“You don’t even want to maybe consider that you have no idea what consequences this might have on you?”

May shook her head firmly, looking more determined than ever.

“I said I was here to help save your universe, and I meant it. Whatever it takes, Chara. Just tell me what I have to do.”

The brunette human stared at May for a moment, taken aback by the flash of purple that shone from her chest – the perseverance in her Soul reacting to her determination.

“Wow…well, alright, kid. If this is really what you wanna do. What I meant by a more personal touch is that…well, you know how your Soul is drawn out when a monster confronts you?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, for mages like you and me, we can start a confrontation too. And it will draw out our opponent’s Soul. And I think we need to have you start the confrontation for this to work. Assuming your theory is correct, May, whatever’s going on is tearing our Souls apart. And I’m wondering what all you can do with your green magic…and if it might include being able to mend our Souls.”

May blinked in shock. Could she really do all that? Start a confrontation on her own and use her green magic to mend their Souls? She wasn’t sure, if she was honest with herself…then again, she hadn’t been sure she could even use healing magic in the first place, before June had forced her to. And she also hadn’t been sure she possessed magic at all before Muffet helped her unlock it with her purple magic. Maybe if she just believed in herself, like June was always trying to teach her to, she could actually do it. Besides, she had the utmost faith in everyone else – why couldn’t she have a little faith in herself?

“I…I’m not sure if I can…but I’d be willing to try,” she said resolutely, and Chara smiled faintly at her, seeing the thoughts running through her head as she’d been thinking. They nodded, then walking back towards Asriel.

“Okay then. Since I already know you don’t know how to start a confrontation, Azzy and I will show you how it’s done. Hey, Asriel! You and me are gonna spar, to show May how to start a confrontation!”

“WHY WOULD WE NEED TO SHOW HER HOW TO DO THAT?”

“Because that’s how she’s gonna help us, bro.”

“OH…IN THAT CASE, YOU WILL NEED TO START IT, CHARA! BE A GOOD TEACHER FOR MAY!!”

Chara smirked at Asriel before turning to May.

“I’m gonna explain how to do it, but watch close, too. No sense in doing this more than necessary.”

May nodded, standing back so that she could watch safely while paying very close attention.

“Okay, so for monsters, there are a few ways to do this. One, they send a magical attack your direction with the intent to harm you. Two, they focus their magic and draw out your Soul with this special hand gesture. Three, they focus their magic with the sheer intent to harm you or take your Soul. For humans, it doesn’t work like that, because they have no magic. But you and me, we’re different, so we can fight the way monsters can. We can draw out their Souls the same way they can draw out ours. In this case, I’m gonna use the second method, since I could never have the intent to hurt Asriel. I figure you’d be the same way, so watch my hand very carefully.”

May nodded, focusing on Chara’s hands as they began. Chara, their expression pinched a little in concentration (which May understood meant they were focusing their magic), made an odd motion, starting out like they were pulling on a string, then ending it with a come-hither gesture. Asriel shivered slightly as his Soul was pulled out, but didn’t otherwise react.

“When you’re done, make your intent clear – use your kindness to spare them. And just like it does for us when we fight a monster…”

Asriel’s Soul slid back into his chest without hesitation, and he grinned at Chara.

“THE SAME WORKS ON WE MONSTERS!! THOUGH, I FAIL TO SEE HOW THIS HELPS YOU HELP US, MAY…”

“Don’t worry, Asriel. You’ll see,” May assured him with a small smile. She then returned her attention to Chara.

“Could you come closer and show me that gesture again? I wanna make sure I’m doing it right.”

They nodded, coming over and practicing just the hand motion with her until she had it perfect.

“Alright, that’s it. Now we need to try it out. Go ahead and start a confrontation with me.”

“O-okay. I’ll try.”

Pushing away the nervousness in her chest, she steadied herself the way she had seen June do it so many times before, then focused on Chara. Focus her magic and intent, then…

She gasped as she actually got it on the first try, pulling Chara’s crimson Soul out from their chest easily. But even more shocking was that now they could all see what May had seen – the damage to Chara’s Soul, like an outside force was attempting to shred the little heart. All three kids stared at it, and while they did, May suddenly felt something come over her, like it had in Fell. She was vaguely aware of what she was doing, but she wasn’t really in control. And, like then, she heard a whisper in her mind, the voice so familiar, like an old friend.

“ _Condense your green magic. Work it into the cracks, like glue. Use your purple to hold it together until it heals,_ ” the friendly, calming voice murmured, showing her how to do it.

May, eyes half closed, watched as the voice dictated her actions, manifesting her magic and drawing steadily upon her green half. It wove tendrils of the green magic that wisped off her body into the cracks of Chara’s Soul, and once the smoke-like magic was in place, it solidified to fill the spaces. That complete, May’s other hand lifted to hover beneath Chara’s Soul, and purple vines formed, wrapping gently around the red heart.

Chara, frozen up until now, was terrified of what the young mage would do with their Soul trapped by her magic. This was not part of what they’d discussed, and though they had thought of using her green magic to directly heal the damage she’d seen to their Souls, that idea had still been in the works, without any real way of knowing how to do it. May seemed to be moving on autopilot, completely unresponsive to either Chara or Asriel trying to talk to her, and whatever she was doing now, it had the other human child trembling.

For a split second after the magic vines wrapped around Chara’s Soul, none of them moved, May’s glassy gaze fixed intently upon the crimson heart pulsing before her. Then, her fingers twitched, and the vines tightened, pressuring Chara’s Soul. It was a slow build in the pressure she applied through her magic, but it was without a doubt incredibly painful, as Chara cried out and fell to their knees, gasping for air. But just before the other child would have passed out, the vines relaxed, and Asriel came tearing up to his sibling, looking to May in shock.

At some point during the pressuring of Chara’s Soul with her purple vines, May had lowered the hand she’d used to control her green magic, and it wasn’t until after the vines relaxed that she released the purple half, lowering her other hand. Her expression was vacant for only a second longer before her magic dissipated entirely and she blinked back to reality, shaking off the stupor she was in.

“Whoa…that was weird…” she muttered, only now noticing the new state of Chara’s Soul. “Oh! I…I did it. I mended it…oh, I still have to end the confrontation, sorry!”

It took a couple tries to get it right, but May successfully ended the confrontation with Chara, and their Soul sunk back into their chest. The girl shuffled up to Chara nervously, fidgeting with her fingers.

“Are you…how do you feel? That…sounded pretty painful…”

“It was. I don’t know how you knew what to do, but…I actually feel…amazing. Better than I have in a while. I didn’t realize until now, but I suddenly feel…whole again,” they laughed a little, incredulous. May grinned, pleased.

“That’s great! Well, it’s not great that it hurt you so bad to have it done, but it worked! And that’s awesome! And, to tell you the truth…I’m not totally sure how I did that either. This has happened before, back in…um, remember about that thing I told you? With the really intimidating monsters who lost their magic, and I gave it back to them? This happened then, too, when I just kinda…was in a daze, but still fixed it. That time was before I actually had my magic, though, so I think this one was a one-time thing. I hope it’s not that painful for everyone…”

“Something tells me it will be. But a minute of pain in exchange for repairing our Souls? I don’t think anyone will mind paying that price.”

May again fidgeted, looking a little anxious and murmuring, “I hope so…” Once Chara was back on their feet, they looked around the room in the Core the trio had stopped in, only resting their gaze on the young girl again once they had completed a sweep of the room.

“So. Since we’ve figured out the, uh…thing you do. You wanna keep going and charge up your thing? I mean, you’re probably pretty eager to –”

“No,” May interrupted, shaking her head.

“No?”

“No. What I wanted can wait. Helping just you doesn’t solve anything. We need to double back through the Underground so I can fix more peoples’ Souls. As it stands, whatever this is that was tearing you apart is doing the same to everyone else, too. And not just them, but the Underground itself. Having just one person fixed isn’t going to stabilize the entire place, ya know? So this – I – can wait. Taking care of you guys is more important. Besides…the Core will still be here once everyone is healed. The only hurry I’m in is to avert this crisis before it gets any bigger.”

Chara and Asriel both sucked in a breath as her Soul pulsed from within her, the dual colors shining bright at the same time. Once it faded, they nodded, agreeing to backtrack through the Underground so she could stabilize everyone’s Souls. (Starting with Asriel’s since he was right there with them.)

It took the trio days to do, since the effects on May were incredibly draining from using so much of her magic, but by the time they managed to get most of the way through the Underground, Asriel had the brilliant idea to have May teach some other monsters with green and purple magic to work together and achieve the same results she was getting. Once she taught them how it was done, they assured her they would take it from there to continue mending the Souls of those in the Underground.

That completed, Chara and Asriel took the raven-haired mage back to the Core, and they began their search for the thing to charge May’s device anew. It wasn’t until they reached the center of the Core that they found it, and she quickly removed the watch so it could charge in the provided port.

“So…I guess this’ll be it then,” Chara said as they watched the object charge. May was back to bouncing off the walls with energy, but at this, she sobered. She understood what Chara was trying to say.

“I…guess so. I hadn’t really thought about it until now.”

“THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT, MAY?”

“Well, that…once my watch is charged, I’ll have to leave.”

“WHAT?! BUT – BUT YOU CAN’T LEAVE YET!! WE WERE JUST STARTING TO BE THE BEST OF FRIENDS!!”

“I know. And we still can be! I just…I have something really important I have to take care of. And I can’t take care of it if I stay here. Besides, somewhere out there, my sister is waiting for me, and I bet she’s worried sick. I can’t keep her waiting any longer. But I promise, the first chance I get, I’m gonna come back and visit you guys, okay? We’re friends now – friends forever and ever. I’m not gonna forget that.”

“YOU…YOU PROMISE?” Asriel asked, tears in the corners of his eyes. May gingerly cupped his face and wiped them away, a loving and affectionate expression overtaking whatever sadness she might have felt in that moment.

“I promise, Asriel. And a Skies woman never goes back on her word,” she replied, gently nuzzling his snout with her own nose before wrapping him in a big hug. He sniffed and hugged her back tightly, only letting go when the device beeped that it was at full charge again.

May slipped it on again easily, praying that there wouldn’t be any internal damage that needed fixing after this. She then took a deep breath and switched the communication feature on, tuning it to call for Science. The usual static burst from the screen, but it cleared quickly, and May was delighted to see a clear picture of the lab, with a little familiar skeleton child sitting in the background.

“MAY!!!” little Papyrus shouted, and she giggled gleefully.

“Hey, Papyrus! Good to see you, bud! Hey, I’ve got a big favor to ask you. It’s really important, okay? I need you to go get me your brother or your dad. Can you do that for me, Paps?”

“YEAH!!!” he declared, leaping from his seat on the floor and racing off-screen. May giggled, then remembered that she had yet to say goodbye to Chara. Well, since she probably had a minute before –

“slow down, pap! what’s the hurry? where’s the – oh! may!” Science breathed, looking relieved to see her again. May gave him a big grin and waved a little.

“Hey. So good news – as far as I can tell, everything’s working…I think. I haven’t tried jumping yet, but I’m gonna do that soon. But audio, visuals, and this communication is working fine.”

“great! we were starting to get worried since we hadn’t heard from you in so long…”

“Yeah, some…things came up. It’ll be easier to explain when I have more time to actually sit down and talk. Sorry, Science.”

“it’s fine. i’m just glad you’re alright. and everything’s reading normal from this side – any sign of error for you?”

“No, but I’m not terribly worried about him right now. I’ve kept June waiting long enough. After this, I’m gonna give her a call and try to meet back up with her. Hopefully she’ll actually be able to answer me this time…”

“well, her signal’s coming through loud and clear from here. you shouldn’t have any trouble reaching her.”

“Oh! Her signal came back? That’s great! Takes a load off my mind, let me tell ya…”

Science laughed with May on that one, and she waved to Gaster in the background, who smiled and waved back before returning to entertaining Papyrus.

“Anyway, this was mostly to check that everything was working and let you guys know everything’s fine here. Next chance June and I get together, I’ll make sure we get some time to sit down and catch you guys up on what’s happened with both of us. I kinda wanna hear her side of things anyway.”

Science nodded in agreement, then said goodbye. May repeated the sentiment before ending the call and turning to her two friends.

“Hey, Asriel? Can I get a minute with Chara? I’ll call you back in before I leave so you can still see me off.”

“VERY WELL, MAY. BUT DO NOT TAKE TOO LONG! I DO NOT WISH TO PROLONG OUR PARTING!”

“Of course, Asriel. Thank you.”

He nodded and stepped out of the room, giving May and Chara a moment alone. The two regarded each other for a second before May stepped forward and hugged the taller child, catching them off guard a little.

“Don’t act so surprised,” she whispered, “You should know by now that I’m a hugger. Affectionate might as well be my middle name.”

“I thought your middle name was Elizabeth.”

“Smart aleck,” the ravenette huffed, smiling anyway. Chara chuckled, ruffling her hair gently.

“I…can’t believe I’m saying this, but I'm gonna miss you, kiddo. You’re a good human, and a great person…and an even better friend. None of us here will forget what you’ve done for us. So thanks.”

May smiled warmly, not sure how else to respond.

“What can I say? It’s what I do. But thank you. That means a lot. And I won’t forget you guys either. I never forget my friends. And I swear, as soon as all this dies down, I _will_ make good on my word to come back and see you guys.”

“I know you will, kid…May.”

The look Chara gave May was gentle and affectionate, and May gave the other child a smile right back, reaching up and pecking them on the cheek before they could react. She then blushed lightly and giggled at their shocked and blushing face before calling Asriel back into the room.

Now that she had said her goodbyes…it was time to call June. And May found that, as much as she loved the friends she’d made while on her own, she desperately missed her sister. So, with a smile at the distraction she’d accidentally created by stunning Chara, she stepped a little away and activated the communication function to connect to June.


	52. Shootout!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! We've got some Gaster-speak in this chapter, so expect the ROT2 cipher and translations after the text. There's also implied future character death, and a (for me) massive amount of gore later in the chapter. The gore will be sectioned off as skippable, but won't have a summary at the end notes. (I'll explain why there. Just be on the lookout for the row of exclamation points.) As for the implied future character death...I mean, there's nothing described, and it's only implied because dialogue, so...do with that what you guys will. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this one. -S

The alarms send June’s anxiety spiraling into a near-panic, the only thing currently grounding her in any way being Pup clinging to her in fear. Along with the alarms came the thundering of many feet and shouting, and they knew they were made.

“Move, darlings! _Move!_ ” hissed Mettaton over the alarms, forcing June to open the door and rush through, scooping the frightened child into her arms as she dashed through and into the treatment center of the old vet’s office. Mettaton was the next through the door, then Gaster, looking paler than should have been possible (even for a skeleton). Just as the door swung shut behind them, there was the _rata-tat-tat_ of gunfire and various sounds of magical attacks hitting the door and surrounding wall. Passing Pup off to Gaster as she rushed back, June’s fight or flight response kicked into overdrive as her protective instincts overwhelmed her fear – and anyone who had met her would know her fight or flight response was heavily weighted towards fight.

Firing up her magic, June looked around before spotting a fallen metal beam, using her gravity magic to heave the thing in front of the door and bending it in such a way that the oncoming monsters wouldn’t be able to open the door without a serious struggle. She then whipped towards Mettaton, who just looked stunned at the display of raw power.

“How the hell did they figure us out already?!” she demanded, glowing eyes locked on the stunned robot.

"Lwpg, rngcug. K jqpguvna fqwdv kv ycu Ogvvcvqp'u hcwnv vjga hqwpf wu qwv,"  _(June, please. I honestly doubt it was Mettaton’s fault they found us out.)_ Gaster stated calmly, rubbing soothing circles across the small child’s back.

After blinking a couple times, the pink-and-black robot swore under his breath, and if a snarl could look annoyed, then he pulled it off.

“Someone went to check on Gaster’s progress with you and Pup. Evidently, Fletcher didn’t buy the story we fed him and went to check that there really had been orders to move you. When he found out there weren’t any such orders, he requested someone check around for you and go check that your things were still in the room. And since they reached the room where they had stored your things before they located us…”

“They raised the alarm. Shit. _Shit._ Shit fuck shit fuck! Pup, don’t repeat any of that! Mettaton, how do you know that?”

“I’m hooked into the frequency they use to communicate with. I listened to their conversation.”

Before June could question it further, there was banging on the door as the guards tried to open it and instead encountered the metal beam. All of them jumped, and June spun to face the door, her magic flaring with her raging emotions.

“Run,” she muttered darkly, changing her stance to protect them. When they hesitated, she glanced back over her shoulder at them and shouted her command again, magic flaring around her like an aura.

"Yg ecp'v lwuv ngcxg aqw!"  _(We can’t just leave you!)_ Gaster shouted, Pup struggling to get out of his arms.

“He’s right, human. You have to go with them. Let me handle the guards,” Mettaton argued stepping forward with no small amount of apprehension in his expression. But June stood resolute, refusing to budge as her built up her magic. She was ready for a showdown.

“J-J-J…” came a tiny voice from behind that none of them recognized. Then the voice sucked in a deep breath and bellowed out one word.

“ _June!!_ ”

The girl froze, turning her head to her name. The cry was repeated, and she fully turned to see Pup trying desperately to reach out to her, tears streaming down their little round cheeks. Again they called to her, and it was the repeated cry that broke her. The pleading way they shouted her name, using their voice for the first time around her (and the two monsters as well, from the looks on their faces), begging her in that one word not to leave them alone, not to fight…in her mind’s eye, June saw her sister. The likeness to times when they were growing up and May would call to her and beg her not to harm the bullies that plagued the younger girl was enough, and the more rational side of June’s mind slipped back into gear.

While she was willing to do whatever it took to protect Pup, like she would her own sister…she couldn’t leave them in Gaster’s care. Nor Mettaton’s for that matter. No, they needed _her_. She had vowed to keep them safe, and that meant staying alive long enough to get them back home to the skeleton brothers. So, as much as it pained her to back down, June gritted her teeth and marched right up to the crying child, her hands gently cupping their face making them finally fall silent.

“Hey, hey, hey…what’s with the waterworks, kiddo? I told you, as long as I’m between you and danger, you’ll be safe. I promised you I’d protect you, didn’t I? I promised I’d get you home. And a Skies woman never goes back on her word. I’m not leaving you, Pup. Not if my life depended on it. So dry those eyes, alright? I swear, the only place I’m going, is where you go. Just gotta do somethin’ real quick, okay?”

Pup sniffed and nodded, nuzzling into her hand softly before she stepped back. Allowing her quelled emotions to rise again, she snapped her fingers as she once more moved past the shocked robot monster, a wall of orange magic energy sparking to life behind her. They quickly solidified into a proper shape – katanas, her specialty when it came to armed combat – and shot towards the door, nearly impaling the first monster to manage to wedge their head through the door. (The monster managed to wiggle back out in time, but only barely.) With a roar of primal rage and fury, she pushed the orange magic as far as it could go through the wall and door, hoping to terrify the guards into backing off for now.

Once she was sure they would leave them alone, June thought to take one last precaution, should they manage to break through anyway. She summoned her remaining magic and focused it, quickly sketching out with her hands the two shapes she wanted by her side. Releasing her magic into them, she sighed as she twisted her head to her left and right, pleased to see the orange- and blue-eyed Gaster Blasters hovering close by her side. She then turned back towards Pup, Gaster, and Mettaton, the latter two staring in absolute shock.

"Dwv...dwv vjqug...vjqug ctg...jqy ku vjku rquukdng?!"  _(But...but those...those are...how is this possible?!)_ Gaster cried, allowing the small child to escape his grasp and race over to June. The teen scooped up the brunette child and settled them on top of one of the Blasters, murmuring for them to hold on tight to the horns. They nodded, gripping the elegant flared horns on the massive skull with white-knuckled strength, and June finally addressed Gaster.

“Remember G? The version of Sans I mentioned that had fused with his Gaster? He realized my magic was close enough to yours and Sans’ to summon these babies. He taught me how. Kinda hoped I wouldn’t have to make use of that knowledge so soon, but…I’m not taking any chances right now. Now come on, let’s get moving. Hurry!”

At this, she surged forward, the Blasters flying slightly ahead of her, responding to her desire to keep Pup safe and to let them guide her to the exit. Evidently, it was through the room at the end of the hall, marked “Surgery”. After a split second’s hesitation, she heard two more sets of footsteps racing to catch up to the humans, Gaster and Mettaton having finally shaken off their shock and were scurrying to join them. Upon entering the room, June pulled the child off the Blaster and put them down, directing her Blasters to hover outside the door once the two friendly monsters slipped past her into the room.

“Okay, Pup. Show us the way out,” June directed calmly, the kid nodding firmly before darting over to a vent. With Gaster’s help they pried the vent cover free from the wall and pointed to it, calling her name softly once. June hesitantly made her way over and examined the vent. It would be easy for Pup to fit through the narrow vent – they were plenty small enough – but it would be a tight fit for June. Sure, she was thin (bordering on underweight, any doctor would tell her if she ever went to one), but she also had to worry about her hips, chest, and butt getting her stuck, since she was rather curvy. Not to mention her height making the sharp turns difficult to navigate, with her legs getting in the way…

And then there was Gaster and Mettaton to consider. Gaster would have to deal with the same height problem June did. Not to mention Gaster’s looser fitting clothes would trip him up and catch on things. And assuming Mettaton would be joining them, he, too, would face the issue of height verses vent size…though she honestly doubted the diva would be crawling through a vent in the first place. Besides, his heels and pauldrons would definitely make it incredibly difficult for him to fit into the vent.

“I don’t know if we’ll all fit through there, kiddo…but I know you will. And if we’re careful I might, too. There’s a smaller chance Gaster will fit, but it’s still a chance. Mettaton, though…”

(As she’d been thinking, Gaster had removed their collars, making sure to do it so that neither human would be shocked in the process. Afterwards, he purposely closed the circuit again and cut the collars, making it look like they humans had cut them off themselves. Ever the genius, Gaster…)

“Oh, I’m not going with you darlings. I was only helping you get Pup out. And since they’ll need you to go with them, that meant helping you, too. Though I’ll admit that I wish we could have met under better circumstances. You’ve got a rugged and sexy aesthetic I like. It’s a shame I couldn’t have made use of that for a show or something…ah, well. Do yourself a favor, darling – don’t change. And don’t die before you fulfill that promise.”

Mettaton patted June’s cheek endearingly before backing off, the teen too confused and perplexed to stop him. That was weird.

“Yeah, well…don’t you go getting yourself made, Tin Man. And thanks for the assist. Maybe I’ll see you on the other side,” she added with a mock salute and a smirk before turning to address Gaster.

“So, tall, pale, and skeletal: think you’ll be able to wiggle yourself through those vents?”

"K...co chtckf pqv, Lwpg. Kv ku wphqtvwpcvg, dwv K ecppqv ceeqorcpa aqw,"  _(I...am afraid not, June. It is unfortunate, but I cannot accompany you.)_ Gaster answered, looking a bit defeated and sad. June stared at him for a second before narrowing her eyes, the glow of her magic in them snapping around her face like a freshly fed fire.

“Why the hell not? You need to get out of here, Gaster. They’re gonna know you helped us escape, and these guys…I get the feeling mercy isn’t in their vocabulary. You have to come with us.”

"Pq, K fqp'v. Cpf yjkng aqwt eqpegtpu ctg xcnkf...K co uvknn ejqqukpi vq uvca dgjkpf. Ogvvcvqp cpf K vcnmgf vjku qxgt. K'o iqkpi vq jgnr jko mggr jku eqxgt da rtgvgpfkpi vq hgpf jko qhh kp aqwt fghgpug, cpf jg yknn fghgcv og. Jg yknn vjwu 'ecrvwtg' og, dwv cnnqy aqw vyq vq guecrg wpjctogf."  _(No, I don’t. And while your concerns are valid...I am still choosing to stay behind. Mettaton and I talked this over. I’m going to help him keep his cover by pretending to fend him off in your defense, and he will defeat me. He will thus “capture” me, but allow you two to escape unharmed.)_

“That’s…brilliant, I’ll admit, but…dammit, Gaster! What are you choosing to stay behind? I’m telling you, these guys are _going_ to kill you if you stay!”

"Dgecwug K yqwnf fgugtxg yjcvgxgt rwpkujogpv vjga icxg og hqt yjcv K jcxg fqpg vq vjg ejknf...vq Rwr. Vq cnn vjg jwocp ejknftgp K gzrgtkogpvgf qp. Vq oa dtqvjgtu, hqt ngcxkpi vjgo vjg yca K fkf...cpf vq cnn qh oqpuvgtmkpf, hqt vjg vgttqtu K wpngcujgf. Vjku ku oa cvvgorv vq tkijv vjg ytqpiu K eqookvvgf. Uq rngcug, Lwpg...vta vq wpfgtuvcpf. Cpf fq pqv vta vq uvqr og."  _(Because I would deserve whatever punishment they gave me for what I have done to the child...to Pup. To all the human children I experimented on. To my brothers, for leaving them the way I did...and to all of monsterkind, for the terrors I unleashed. This is my attempt to right the wrongs I committed. So please, June...try to understand. And do not try to stop me.)_

“Gaster…” June murmured, touched and hurt by what he had said. It was just like with Handplates, trying to make up for his mistakes by sacrificing himself. And there was no way she could talk him out of it, just like last time. But the moment didn’t last, as she felt her Blasters warning her that the guards were almost through the blockade she had hastily made earlier. She hissed and swore under her breath, but turned her piercing gaze upon the tall scientist once more.

“Are you sure?”

"K jcxg pgxgt dggp oqtg uq kp oa nkhg."  _(I have never been more so in my life.)_

The green-eyed ravenette scoured his expression for any hint of hesitation or of wanting to change his mind, but found nothing. Finally, she sighed and looked away, allowing her magic from maintaining the Gaster Blasters to flood back into her system before making it dissipate completely.

“Then you’d better get out there. You don’t have much time left.”

Gaster gently turned her face to look at him again, giving her a gentle smile before hugging her gently, his grip loose enough that she could pull away if she wanted.

"Vjcpm aqw, Lwpkrgt Umkgu. Vjcpm aqw...cpf iqqf nwem."  _(Thank you, Juniper Skies. Thank you…and good luck.)_

“You, too, bud,” she murmured, actually hugging back before quickly shoving him towards Mettaton and the door. “Now go. And make it a hell of a show.”

“You know we will, darling,~” Mettaton winked before leading Gaster out the door. June sighed heavily, taking the barest of moments to grieve for the loss of what could have been a good ally and friend before shaking it off and going back to Pup.

“Looks like it’s just you and me, kid. I’ll be right behind you the whole way.”

The child nodded, crawling into the vent without any further prompting. June shimmied her way in after them, finding it to be…slightly roomier than she had expected. Well, at least there was a slightly smaller chance her natural curviness would get her stuck now. Pushing that from her mind, she did her best to keep up with Pup, crawling along behind them and only getting stuck a handful of times on particularly tight corners.

After what felt like hours of crawling around in this system of vents (which had long since given way to tunnels of approximately the same size as the vents), the two managed to reach the other side, both getting out and standing, stretching and breathing sighs of relief.

“Okay, kiddo…what now?”

They looked up at her blankly, as if they had expected her to have that answer. June sighed out a, “Never mind,” glancing around for some kind of indicator as to what they should do next. Then a small white creature vaguely resembling…June wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a cat or a dog…with a goofy expression on its face walked over to them.

“hOI!” it exclaimed, and June stared at it oddly. Pup seemed glad to see it, though, so when the child went to follow the silly-looking cat/dog/thing, June sighed and was right on their heels. Before long, it became clear the creature was leading them somewhere, as more like it appeared along a sort of hidden path, and by following the “trail” of the goofy little creatures, the two were deposited into a back alleyway somewhere. June was about to turn and ask the last of them small white monsters (she had to assume they were monsters at this point – what else could they be?) where they had lead the humans, Pup was waving at the creature, and it looked overjoyed at the attention.

“bOI!!!” it shouted in return before disappearing back down whatever rabbit hole it had lead them through to get here. June glanced back and forth between where the small monster had disappeared and the child at her side in confusion, finally shaking her head after a minute.

“I swear to god, I will never get used to sh-stuff like this. Yeah. Stuff. Whatever. Anyway…come on, kiddo. Let’s go figure out where the heck we are.”

June added this last part after picking up the child and placing them on her hip, earning her a giggle. June smiled and huffed a small snort of amusement, turning to leave the alleyway.

Walking around, it was obvious that she was the one garnering the attention of the monsters around them, since it was her gaze they met as she waltzed defiantly down the street, looking for a friendly face. It took a while (long enough that Pup fell asleep in her arms), but she eventually did find someone – Papyrus and Undyne, both standing at what appeared to be a homemade stall for…spaghetti? (June really hoped Papyrus’ cooking was better in this universe than the others she’d encountered so far…)

“Oh thank god…” she muttered, speeding up to pull parallel with them. “Paps, Undyne. Thank god I found you guys.”

Both stared at the tall mage girl like she had grown a second head, but she didn’t really care in her relief. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, however, Undyne blinked and seemed to recover a little, practically tackling the ravenette in her excitement.

“Punk! THANK the STARS you’re alright! After what happened back at Sans and Papyrus’ place, I was super freaked when I found out you were taken, too. AND YOU’VE GOT THE LITTLE PUP!!! NICE!! Knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to them!” she added with a wide, fang-bearing grin. June huffed with a smile in return, too tired by now to really give it much more.

“Didn’t realize you cared so much, Undyne. But yeah, of course not. I’m not gonna let some…less savory characters lay a finger on a kid like this little sweetheart. But, uh, if we could get off the street, that’d be great. Frankly, we’re exhausted, and I’d like to not have my skin crawling every other second from feeling eyes on me.”

“Right, of course. Papyrus and I will take you guys back to his and Sans’ new place. You’ll be safe there.”

June nodded, watching the two monsters pack up the spaghetti stand, Papyrus still shooting surprised and thoughtful glances over towards the two humans every so often. Once they were ready to go, the pair led June to a warehouse, Papyrus going first.

“OLD BOSS! SANS!” Papyrus called out before heading further in, gesturing the others to follow him. (As if they had a choice at this point.) “YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE THIS!!”

“Papyrus, dear, what have I told you about –” a familiar maternal voice cut off as June rounded the corner with Pup in her arms. June’s own dark eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Toriel? _You’re_ the one he was calling ‘old boss’?”

“Oh…June, you…you were the other human they took…I had no idea you were even here! Are you alright? How is the child? How ever did you escape?”

“NYEH?! NOT ONLY UNDYNE, BUT OLD BOSS KNOWS YOU, TOO, BIGGER PUP?! AND WHERE IS SANS? HE SHOULD BE HERE FOR THIS!!”

There was a pause as they all processed the onslaught of…whatever was going on.

“O…kay, I’m gonna take this one person at a time. Toriel, Undyne, I’m fine. Just need some rest to recover my magic and energy some. Used up way too much of both escaping. Pup is fine, too. Just tired from all the stress, I think. And the escape is a long story…one I’d much rather tell later, if you don’t mind. Now, Paps…first, yes, they know me. It’ll be easier to explain later, once I've rested, I swear. Second, don’t call me ‘bigger pup’ please. It’s June. But by all means, call me…almost anything but ‘bigger pup’. Now, does anyone have an answer for where Sans is?”

Toriel sighed, nodding.

“He has been highly agitated since the raid where you and the child were taken, June. I believe he left for Grillby’s in the hopes of finding some kind of information. He should be back before long, however.”

June nodded, carefully handing Pup off to Papyrus as she looked around for a place to crash.

“Great. Well, in the meantime, were can I pass out?”

Toriel huffed a small laugh before gesturing to the couch not far behind her.

“It is the only thing comfortable enough to sleep on, I fear.”

“That’s fine. Give me just a second here…”

Rather than take the couch, June found a spot near it that was relatively clear, dropping her backpack onto the ground and pulling out some of her dirty and bloodied clothes from before. She grimaced, but wadded them in such a way that the smell shouldn’t reach her nose. After making sure her improvised pillow was in place, she pulled out a jacket to cover herself with a little like a blanket, zipping up the backpack and setting it next to her head.

“G’night,” she muttered, curling up on the floor and pulling the jacket over her top half before anyone could protest. She passed out almost immediately.

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** _

_Blood. The air was so thick with magic, it carried the sharp coppery smell right to her. Her limbs were heavy, so heavy, so tired…but she couldn’t give up yet. She couldn’t give in. She had to stop him, make him see. What determination she had fueled her bravery and integrity, the two halves of her damaged, yet magnificent Soul. She watched as it skirted around the battle with almost no effort on her part, avoiding attacks the same way she was physically dodging them._

_Again the smell of blood slapped her in the face. Was it hers? Probably. She was fast, and a damned good fighter, but she wasn’t perfect. There was no way she could dodge everything. After all, it wasn’t likely that the smell was coming from the small mark made in now-dried blood on her forearm. And though she’d gotten him several times by now, he didn’t look like he was bleeding. Could skeletons bleed? Normally, she’d guess no, but this was a monster. Monsters and magic were both pretty unpredictable at times._

_Speaking of unpredictable, an attack came from a direction she wasn’t expecting, and she only just managed to pull up, the sharpened bone inches from lopping off part of her nose as it sliced through the air. As if she didn’t have enough of it already in her system, another shot of adrenaline flooded her senses, and she launched her own attack back, a line of icicles. She would have to pay more attention – if he defeated her…the kids…_

_Thinking of what she was fighting for filled her with new strength and energy. It filled her with determination, and she stubbornly pressed on. But the scene was shifting before her eyes. Gaster wasn’t there anymore, and this wasn’t the Core. It was dark, very dark, too dark. Dark, darker, yet darker. She stood unmoving, confused. No more attacks came, and the heat from the Core no longer pressed on her, but the smell of blood lingered. But it wasn’t her blood. As her eyes seemed to adjust to the pressing, yet vast darkness, she spotted the form of her little May lying on the ground. Worry and fear consumed her, and she wasted no time approaching and kneeling next to the tiny ravenette._

_She froze once she could see, though. May wasn’t moving, and lying in a pool of blood, the smell practically overpowering. Just when she would think she had gotten used to the smell of blood over the years, it would hit her in such a way that proved her wrong. Like this. But she wasn’t concerned about the fact that the smell alone was enough to make her sick right now. May wasn’t moving, and there was blood – so much, too much, far far too much – and the child was cold to the touch. Her hands shook as she tried to awaken the younger girl, shaking and calling out the child’s name until she was too choked to do so any longer. Choked by the smell, her tears, her fear, the bile threatening to rise in her throat. But she continued to shake May’s arm, until she finally rolled over._

_A gaping crimson wound marred May’s abdomen. It was wide and deep, and the sight almost made the older ravenette puke right then. It destroyed any image of the child looking peaceful and serene in death and just made her look pale, as if someone had cut open a ghost…only to find it wasn’t a ghost after all. There was no question. May was dead. Too far gone to save. No amount of magic or powers or anything could bring her back now. That finally did it, and the green-eyed girl was throwing herself to the side so she could purge her stomach of its contents._

_There was no way this would have happened if she’d been there. Somehow, some way, she hadn’t been there, and this was her fault. May was dead because the one person she was supposed to depend on hadn’t been there to protect her. This was her fault. Guilt and pain and grief and loss clawed at her insides as she finished puking, tears and her own anguished cries strangling her as much as the vomit. This was all her fault, and she knew it. And looking down at her hands through her tears, she realized it in more ways than one._

_Her magic swirled off her hands lazily, the orange as bright as a bonfire, the much dimmer blue as dark as the night sky just after sunset. She had been there, then…but only physically. Mentally, she hadn’t been there. She hadn’t been in control, and somehow, she had killed the smaller girl. With this new power she possessed, no less. She had never wanted this. She had never asked for it. And yet, she had it, and it had killed May. No. She had killed May. There was no getting around the fact. Even May knew it as her eyes fluttered open and she sat up, turning to stare down the elder with glassy, dead, lifeless eyes. Never had her ice-blue hues looked so cold, and it chilled the older girl to the core._

_“This is your fault,” May murmured, her voice raspy and weak. “You couldn’t control it. You killed me, June. Why?”_

_June had no answer. She could only cry, feeling her guilt and sins crawling on her back. Slowly, stiffly, May stood, pushing more blood from her wound as she continued that little chant. June had killed her, it was June’s fault, all her fault, she hadn’t been able to control it…and why? Why? Why had she lost control? Why had she killed her baby sister? June could only cry harder, the sobs that wracked her body an inhuman sound of pain and anguish._

_“You killed me. So much pain and blood…” May muttered, the rasp in her voice making it sound like a hiss. “Now it’s your turn.”_

_June shot up, then, and behind May stood others. So many others. So many she had killed when she’d lost control. May, Sans, her mother, Gaster, Papyrus, Celest, Mark, Toriel, Muffet, Grillby, G, Alphys, Undyne…so many others. Countless others. All the people she had ever cared about, gathered in one place and ready to make her feel the pain they’d felt when she killed them._

_Terror shot through her. She’d done this, it was her fault, all her fault, she could accept that…but she didn’t want this. She didn’t want to die. Not like this. She didn’t have a purpose for living without May or any of these people, but she didn’t want to die like this. But she had nowhere to go as they began shambling forward, chanting that mantra of blame and repentance –_

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** _

Suddenly, June was yanked harshly from the nightmare as she felt herself falling, a short shriek escaping her before she collided with the floor. The cold and sting of hitting the ground helped her wake up more, obliterating the nightmare the longer she lay there, catching her breath and calming her racing heart. After she managed to convince herself it was nothing more than a dream and remind herself of where she was, she remembered she’d fallen asleep on the floor. So why the hell…?

She finally sat up slowly, looking around. She was still in the warehouse, but this was not the spot she had laid down on. And where were the clothes she’s been using as a pillow and blanket? Oh, there was the jacket – she was laying on it, having thrown it off at some point. And the wad of dirty clothes? Sitting on the couch where her head would have been if she was laying there. Which, from where she now sat, she guessed someone had moved her to that spot as she’d slept. She was a surprisingly heavy sleeper, all things considered.

“you alright, kid? you gave us a real scare there.”

June’s head snapped to the voice, taking a second to register Sans staring at her, sweat dripping down his skull. He looked nervous, his ever present grin tight, and his body language reading tense. Behind him stood Papyrus, Toriel, Undyne, and Pup, with the small child clinging to Papyrus’ leg and hiding behind it. She sighed guessing what had happened.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. Was just a nightmare. I get them sometimes,” she admitted, not meeting any of their gazes. Out of her peripheral vision, though, she saw all of them relax a little at the admission.

“must’ve been some nightmare. you were crying and making a bunch of noise.”

She winced, grimacing.

“You could say that…” she muttered, eyeing the bloody clothes on the couch. They had been repositioned, accidentally exposing enough of the blood for her nose to catch the lingering scent as she’d slept, evidently. Certainly explained why her nightmare had so much blood in it…normally they weren’t that gory. And she sure as hell never threw up in them before. Oh well. First time for everything, she supposed.

“Shockingly enough what you saw…is normal for my nightmares. The only unusual thing is waking up the way I did. Normally I’m screaming bloody murder and can’t be talked to or touched until I calm down. I usually get really…volatile after a nightmare. For lack of a better word. But you didn’t have to deal with that, so…let’s just move on and pretend that didn’t happen, ‘kay?”

There was silence as she climbed to her feet and stretched, feeling her spine and shoulder pop as she did. It remained unbroken as she scooped up the clothes and tossed them back into her bag, putting the jacket back, too. At least she felt rested enough to call Science and let them know she was alright. She hadn’t had the chance up until now, she realized. With the raid and kidnapping and escape and all. When she straightened again and looked over at the group of monsters, Pup startled her by having silently walked up to her and waited for her attention.

“Jesus, kid. Don’t do that. What is it?”

“June,” they answered, reaching out a hand to her. Confused as to what that could mean, she crouched down to their level and was promptly tackled in a hug.

“Aw, were you worried about me, kiddo?” she laughed, gently petting their hair as they nodded against her. “That’s sweet of ya. Guess you got kinda attached to me back there, huh?”

Again they nodded pulling back and giving her a smile. She smiled back and ruffled their hair.

“Well don’t worry, sweetness. I’m alright. My nightmares are scary, but they can’t hurt me. Sorry for scaring you, Pup.”

They nuzzled their face into her shoulder, as if to tell her it was fine or she was forgiven. She cuddled them back before pulling them off of her.

“Alright, enough of the mushy stuff. I’ve got some stuff to take care of, including talking to the grown-ups. It’s gonna get kinda boring for a while. Can you entertain yourself, kiddo?”

Pup nodded, squirming out of her grip and darting over to a box with some art supplies in it. June smiled fondly at this, then nodded to the kid to go ahead. As they set up their coloring tools, June turned back to the monsters, becoming serious again.

“you’re pretty good with the kid. where’d you learn that?”

“When you raise your own kid sibling, you learn a thing or two about how to handle kids,” she snorted bluntly, getting back to her feet and crossing her arms. “Anyway, I know you at the very least are looking for an explanation as to what the H-E-double hockey sticks happened and how I got here. It’s a really, _really_ long story, so everyone who’s sticking around for it, get comfy.”

All of them found places to sit, looking to her expectantly. She sighed and plopped down on the floor again herself, getting settled before launching into her tale. The assembled monsters had all the reactions she was expecting as she gave them a similar abbreviated version of what had happened to her up to reaching this universe as the one she had given Gaster. Then she paused, debating how to explain what had happened with the enemy monsters and such. She began that part slowly, trying to pick apart what was important and what wasn’t…though most of it ended up in her mental “important” pile.

With that completed, she finally stopped talking, waiting for any questions or concerns from the monsters themselves. They all just looked shell-shocked.

“that’s…some yarn you’ve spun for us, kid,” Sans finally said, his eye lights gone. June was actually getting used to the creepy sight, since he’d been that way for long periods of her story. She just shrugged.

“I don’t expect you to believe me. It’s pretty wild. It’s _been_ pretty wild. But now that you know what’s up, there are a couple more things I have to attend to. So, if you guys will excuse me…” she sighed, getting to her feet. Turning away from the monsters, June dialed up Science, hoping to get through. She hadn’t yet checked the device for damage, either, so she could only hope –

After the burst of usual static, Science’s face darted from the background to right up on the screen.

“june! thank the stars! we were so worried when your signal came back then disappeared again. what happened?”

“I got caught in the crossfire of a raid and ended up kidnapped. But don’t worry, Sci. I’m fine. But more importantly, how’s everything reading? The audio and visuals are coming through loud and clear, so this half of the communication is still functioning properly, at least.”

“oh, geez…you guys both really know how to get yourselves into trouble, don’t you? okay, anyway, your stats and vitals are coming through just fine. looks like it was just a short-circuit after all.”

“Good. Any luck catching May’s signal again?”

“not yet, but we’ve heard from her. she’s doing fine, and is fixing up another universe while she goes to charge her device as we speak.”

“Error struck again?”

“yep.”

“Mm. At least she’s alright. And I can’t say I’m terribly surprised she’s still working hard. Leave it to her to get caught up trying to help others and getting sidetracked,” June chuckled, relieved to hear her sister was okay. The nightmare had left her a little rattled, even if she didn’t sense anything amiss. Science smiled and nodded in return.

“it would be just like her, wouldn’t it? oh, but don’t worry. we’ll keep you posted for when her signal comes back online. error’s hiding out right now, so i’d say he’s in need of a breather. he looked like he bit off more than he could chew after we spotted him leaving the last universe you were in! way to give him hell!”

June chuckled, slightly proud of that. She was getting to the point that she could hold her own against a magical multi-dimensional super being. Talk about an achievement.

“Thanks. I tried. Oh, and about that…you’ll wanna write this down. I've got three more universe names for you. The last one we contacted you from when May and I were together? That’s Handplates. After that, it was Little. The universe I was last in was called Echo. I’ll explain it more later. No idea what this one is called. Sorry.”

“that’s fine, june. you’re doing your best. that’s what counts. and actually, we heard your universe was called echo already. we found that out from the version of me that may was last with. anyway, again, we’ll keep you updated on may and error, should anything come up.”

“Alright, cool. Guess I’ll just…wait then. Ugh, waiting. Weird.”

Science chuckled, then both said goodbye before ending the communication. Well, until she heard back from Science or from May herself, there wasn't really anything for June to do…except maybe play with Pup or talk to the monsters more. As she stood there thinking about it, Sans walked up to her, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“hey, kid. look, i…i realize we weren’t exactly the most welcoming when you got here, and after everything you’ve been through…”

“You don’t have to apologize. And before you start, don’t bother thanking me for rescuing Pup, either. I understand your reactions to me, especially since you skeleton monsters have no clue who I am anyway. Which is f-lippin’ irritating, to say the least, but whatever. Can’t be helped. Anyway, helping the kid was the right thing to do. Besides, I couldn’t just leave them there. I might not be much of a hero type, but I’m not a heartless…beach either. And to tell you the truth, I've got a soft spot for kids anyway, so…” June shrugged, as if that explained her actions regarding saving the child and bringing them back to the monsters.

After an awkward pause (since June had effectively addressed anything else he’d wanted to say first), he finally managed to come up with, “so. i guess this means you’re leaving soon, then.”

“Yep. As soon as I talk to my sister and figure out a meeting place.”

“kid’s gonna miss you. took ‘em a while to warm up to us, but you…”

“Stress and extreme circumstances. You’d bond with someone, too, if you were kidnapped with them, faced very real danger, and escaped with them.”

“guess you’ve got a point,” Sans chuckled a little, scratching the back of his skull. “still. they’re gonna miss you. and it might not seem like much, but we won’t forget what you did. fighting with us, saving the kid, bringing them back to us…just know that if you ever come back, we’re there for you. alright, kid?”

June glanced at Sans out of the corner of her eye, watching him a moment before closing her eyes and smiling.

“Sure, Sans. Thanks. I won’t forget you, either. Ya numbskull,” she teased, throwing in a pun for his benefit. He paused, glancing to her as she turned and watched Pup fondly while they played with Papyrus. June could swear she saw the faintest hint of blue dust his cheeks before he looked away, chuckling.

“don’t go stealing my jokes, now,” he answered, and June laughed lightly.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! If you're here looking for the reason the bad gore section was skippable, but without a summary, here's why - remember how June mentions that she'd had a nightmare? Yeah...the skippable section was her nightmare. Trust me, not a pretty scene, so if you'd rather leave it as skipped, feel free. There's nothing there really important to the plot, and it only really provides a bit of subtle character building in that it lets you see inside her head for a bit. (And, ya know, figure out why she prefers insomnia to sleep.) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this one, and I'll see you next week for more! -S


	53. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! We've got a touch of Gaster-speak in this chapter, so there'll be the usual ROT2 cipher, with translations after the text. The only warning in this one...expect to get run over by the feels train. Choo-choo... -S

A burst of static made June and Sans jump, drawing attention to the teen’s wrist as she pulled it up to her face. Static filled the screen, though now the watch was silent, confusing her.

“Hello?” came a little voice over the speakers, causing June’s eyes to widen in surprise. “Hello! June, you there?”

“May!” June breathed back, relief and excitement overcoming everything else. “Oh god, baby girl, it’s so good to hear from you! I…god, baby girl…”

“Oh, June…” May called back, practically bursting into tears at her sister’s voice. She hadn’t realized just how much she missed the older ravenette. May even had to sit down she was so relieved and happy.

“June, you have no idea how good it is to hear from you!”

“I think I do, baby girl. Oh, geez…I think I have to sit down,” she laughed, flopping on the ground shortly after. May laughed in return, Chara and Asriel exchanged looks behind her.

“I already did!”

“Great minds, baby girl. Great minds,” June joked back, getting more laughter out of the younger sister.

“Hey, so…are you okay?” May finally asked when they both calmed down. “I mean, I heard from Science a minute ago that your signal was back, so I hoped…”

“Yeah, no, I’m okay. Fine, actually. You? Please tell me you’re alright.”

“I’m fine. Not a scratch on me. Hey, did you get my message in the echo flowers?”

“Yeah! I did, I definitely did. God, I was so relieved to hear from you then. I’m relieved to hear from you now. I was so worried about you. I had the worst feeling at the time, like something was wrong, and I just knew it had to do with you. Hearing your voice then really gave me peace of mind. What even happened? Was I just freaking out for nothing? And did you –”

“Get your message? Yeah, I did. God, I was so happy when I heard you singing our song! I was tied up with…this thing, and hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to Science yet, so I had no idea where you were or what was going on, or if you were even okay. I swear I was bawling. I’m such a crybaby sometimes…”

“No you’re not, baby girl. You’re sensitive, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And besides…between you and me, I was bawling my eyes out, too.”

“June…”

“Yeah, I know. Shut up,” she muttered, smiling. The girls both laughed a little, smiling.

“So…was I going crazy? Did anything happen?” June asked, pushing the point. She needed to know – her instincts hadn’t been wrong yet, and if they were failing over something that important…

“No, you’re not crazy, sis,” May replied softly, hesitating over her words. “Something did happen. But I…I can’t talk about it now. Later, after we meet up again, okay?”

“Yeah, of course. Of course. Anything for you, baby girl,” June quickly soothed, her expression pinching in concern. She had never heard such a haunted edge to her little sister’s voice…it reminded her of how her own voice sounded when she talked about her past. She would need to get to the bottom of it later.

“Speaking of, hun…where should we meet up? Should I come to you?”

“No! No, that’s…not a good idea, trust me,” May replied, hastily bowling on. “What about you? I could meet you where you are.”

“No! No. Hell no. This place is way too dangerous, baby girl. I’m not having you come here.”

“Okay…so where should we meet? Another universe maybe?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s call up Science together, pick a relatively safe universe. I’m…so done with this crazy BS. Let’s meet up somewhere more calm and get our bearings before Error has the chance to show up again.”

“Oh…yeah, that sounds really nice, actually. Let’s do that,” May agreed, dialing up Science at the same time as June was.

The static on both their screens cleared as the two saw the same image of the lab with Gaster standing before the machine, a surprised look on his face.

"Qj! Iktnu! Yjcv c hwppa jcrrgpuvcpeg. Ucpu cpf K ygtg vtakpi vq tgcej Lwpg, cevwcnna, vq ngv jgt mpqy aqw ygtg cntkijv, Oca. Kv crrgctu aqw dgcv wu vq vjg rwpej."  _(Oh! Girls! What a funny happenstance. Sans and I were trying to reach June, actually, to let her know you were alright, May. It appears you beat us to the punch.)_ The tall scientist smiled at them, and both girls smiled back.

“Yeah, we…don’t exactly do all that well when separated for long. We’re trying to find a good place to meet up. Got any kind of middle ground that might be relatively safe for us to go?” June asked, Gaster having Science click around the universes until they located one.

“here we go. try universe zero-zero-two. from what data we’ve been able to gather, it’s a universe similar to the original universe, only everyone’s personalities are swapped around.”

“How so?” May asked skeptically. Given the universe she was in, she felt right being wary.

“like, the king and queen switched personalities, me and pap switch…”

“Oh. Okay. That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Yeah, I think we can swing that. Two, you said?”

"Agu. Yg yknn mggr vcdu qp Gttqt'u oqxgogpvu htqo jgtg cpf vta vq ngv aqw mpqy cjgcf qh vkog kh vjgtg'u cpa ejcpig."  _(Yes. We will keep tabs on Error’s movements from here and try to let you know ahead of time if there’s any change.)_

“Sounds good, guys. Thanks. We’ll talk to you soon. Ready, baby girl?”

May hesitated, glancing over to Chara and Asriel.

“Almost. Just gotta give a big see you later to some new friends.”

“Mm. Take your time, baby girl. I’ve…actually got a couple goodbyes of my own to make. See you in universe two, yeah?”

“Yeah. Hey, wait! I…I love you, June.”

“Love you too, baby girl. I’ll see you in a minute.”

Both girls finally ended the communication, turning to their companions.

\--------------------

“wow. this is really it, then. and that right there proves your story wasn’t totally bull. damn,” Sans said, running a hand over his skull in shock. “i…i’m actually gonna miss you, kid. be careful out there. until you get this error guy, this ain’t over by a long shot. just…watch your back. and if you need us –”

“I know. I’ll drop by if I ever miss getting shot at,” June teased, elbowing him lightly. She then walked over to Pup and knelt down to their eye level.

“Hey, kiddo. Guessing you were listening to all that?”

They nodded, a tiny pout on their face.

“You know I gotta go. My sister means the world to me, same way these boneheads mean the world to you. But, hey – look after them for me, will ya? You’re a little trooper, kid. I know you’re tough enough to keep them in line. I’ll pop in from time to time to check on ya once all this crazy stuff going on settles down. Don’t miss me too much, okay, kiddo?”

“…June…” they murmured, wrapping their arms around her neck and hugging her tight. She sighed softly, hugging the child back.

“I know, kiddo. I know. But I have to go. Just…don’t forget about me, alright? And please…be good,” she added, gently pressing a kiss to their forehead. They nod once she parts, and she gives their head one last pet before getting up again, turning to the melancholy monsters.

“No need to look so down, guys. You’ll see me around. I might not have red or purple for my Soul colors, but I’m just as stubborn as one, so good luck getting rid of me that easy.”

This got a few smiles, which she answered with a sassy smirk of her own. She gave them all a miniature salute before dialing the coordinates into the device and hitting the button. With the usual bit of levitation and flash of blinding light, she was gone.

\--------------------

At the same time as June was saying goodbye to Pup and their crew of monsters, May was smiling sadly at her own friends, Chara and Asriel. Both of them had matching looks of sadness, Asriel with tears in his eyes. Even Chara looked like they were going to start tearing up.

“Please don’t cry, guys. I’m not saying goodbye. Goodbye is too final, and this isn’t final. I promise I’m coming back to see you soon. It’ll just take a bit of time. So for now…no goodbyes. Just…see you later. Okay?”

“YES,” Asriel agreed, stepping forward and hugging the girl again fiercely. “NO GOODBYES. GOODBYES ARE TOO SAD. SO I WILL MOST DEFINITELY SEE YOU LATER! BUT BEFORE YOU GO…”

Asriel quickly untied his rainbow scarf from around his neck and wrapped it around May, tying it back stylishly before she could react. Her hands went to the scarf, surprise in her eyes as she gently gripped the fabric, and the goat boy smiled absently at how cute she looked in his scarf.

“Oh, Asriel, I…I can’t take your scarf!”

“THINK NOTHING OF IT, MAY! I INSIST YOU TAKE IT! BESIDES…IF I WISH FOR ANOTHER SCARF I CAN GET A NEW ONE.”

May blinked back tears now herself, touched by the sentiment of giving her his scarf. She threw her arms around him, hugging him tight.

“I’ll miss you, Asriel…” May whispered into his fur.

“AND I WILL MISS YOU, MAY,” he murmured back before they finally parted. May then turned to Chara, almost knocking down the other human with the force of her hug. When she pulled back, she gently pecked their cheeks where a couple tears had fallen, kissing them away.

“Don’t cry for me, Chara. June will keep me safe. And I swear I’m coming back. You know I will,” she said, voice barely audible, so only Chara could hear her. Once she backed off, she wiped at her eyes and smiled at them again, hands holding onto the scarf like a lifeline.

“Take care of each other, alright? I wanna be able to see you both when I come back.”

“OF COURSE, MAY!!”

“Is there any doubt?”

May grinned, finally dialing her watch to the right universe. She hesitated, but waved to them one last time before hitting the button. Chara and Asriel waited to finally cry until May was long gone.

\--------------------

June sucked in a breath as she felt gravity taking over, ready to spread her wings to catch herself, but her feet hit the ground a second later. Surprised by the second peaceful landing, June let out the held breath in a small huff. She then steadied her breathing and glanced around. Welp, back in Snowdin, it seemed. In fact, she was pretty sure this was the same spot that Papyrus had set up that goofy colored title puzzle that was supposed to be impossible to solve. A quick glance around showed that she was right, spotting the machine being worked on by…a short skeleton with his back to her, dressed in gray and blue armor, pants, boots, and gloves, a blue…something tied around his neck. Going off the knowledge she had so far, it was a safe bet that the small skeleton was this universe’s Sans, but he would be more like Papyrus. And, since he was a skeleton monster, he wouldn’t remember her at all. Would it pay off to talk to him, or try to sneak away, she wondered…

On May’s end, she too had been scared by the shift in gravity as she dropped to the ground. Unlike in the last universe, however, she was relieved to find that her drop was a short one…relatively. It was still a big enough drop to get an _oof_ out of her as she lost her balance and fell to her knees in the snow. Snow. Snowdin, or Snowdin forest. Well, at least it was familiar territory. Getting up and brushing off, the little girl glanced around, spotting a familiar wooden sentry station. To her surprise, there was an equally familiar tall skeleton staring at her in shock, whatever he was smoking barely dangling from his teeth. She couldn’t see much of him, but from the height, skull shape, and face, she could guess it was this universe’s Papyrus. However, from what Science had told them, he would be more like a Sans…

“Um…hi,” May said shyly, slowly approaching the station. The orange-hoodied skeleton seemed to recover once she spoke, and he relaxed his body language, giving her a lazy little smirk.

“heya,” he answered, removing the thing he was smoking (she didn’t want to assume a cigarette) so it wouldn’t fall as he spoke. “you a human?”

“Yep. And you’re this universe’s Papyrus, right?”

The surprise on his face said enough for May to sigh.

“Yeah, I had a feeling you wouldn’t know me. Listen, I, um…I’m looking for my sister. She looks like me, only taller, with green eyes and tattoos all over. Um, pictures on her skin. Anyway, she also doesn’t have the freckles that I do. Have you seen her?”

This Papyrus blinked before something seemed to dawn on him, and he chuckled.

“ah, now i know who you are. nah, haven’t seen your sister, but if we look around, i bet we’ll find her. as long as you stick with me, kid, you shouldn’t run into trouble. stay close, ‘kay?” he concluded, having come around from behind the station and holding out his hand to her. She was highly confused, but took his hand anyway.

“Okay…but…you didn’t recognize me. So how do you know who I am?”

“how about i explain when we find your sister? i’m too lazy to explain it more than once.”

May snorted as she walked hand in hand with this Papyrus amused.

“That’s such a Sans answer. Science wasn’t kidding when he said your personalities were swapped. So your Sans really will be more like a Papyrus?”

“yep. and don’t worry about not telling him about the other universes. he already knows, too. but i’d appreciate it if you maybe didn’t mention some of the more…violent universes. he’d just wanna rush off to try and fix them.”

“Fair point. If he’s anything like what I’m expecting, he’d end up getting in over his head trying to make friends with them,” May pointed out.

The Sans-like Papyrus nodded, a bead of sweat rolling down his skull as he averted his gaze. Then he stopped walking and pointed with the hand that held hers.

“is that her?”

May turned her head, eyes going wide with hope and excitement.

June finally shook her head and turned her gaze away from this universe’s Sans. Talking with him most likely wouldn’t get her anywhere. But just as she cast her gaze down towards where she knew the Ruins were, she sucked in another breath, a grin spreading across her face before she could stop it. Because standing with what was clearly this universe’s Papyrus was her baby sister, May.

“May…” she breathed, then called louder, “May!”

“June!” May shouted back, letting go of the orange-clad skeleton to race towards her sister.

The two ran forward until it looked as if they were going to collide, but June slowed and opened her arms, May leaping as she launched herself forward to tackle the older ravenette. A laugh tore its way out of the older girl, catching the younger easily in her arms and spinning her around a few times as they continued to repeat each other’s names and laugh, rejoicing. They were finally reunited.

June finally spun to a stop, kneeling so that May’s feet would touch the ground as they just hugged and basked in each other’s presence.

“Oh, June…”

“May…baby girl…”

When they leaned back, looking in the other’s face, all they found was relief, joy, and immense love for the other. June was the first to break the contact, pressing sweet kisses all over her giggling little sister’s face.

“I–” (smooch) “–have missed you–” (smooch) “–so, so, so much–” (smooch) “–my sweet–” (smooch) “–darling–” (big smooch on May’s forehead) “–angelic baby girl.”

Gently cupping June’s face and nuzzling noses with her, May replied, “I missed you, too, you, my wonderful, goofy, amazing big sister.”

Her already warm smile widened at this, June initiating the nose nuzzling this time. When they stopped, they pressed their foreheads together and just stood (or knelt, in June’s case) in the snow, enjoying each other’s presence. When May finally shivered from the cold, June finally opened her eyes again and stood, picking up her sister and putting the child on her hip almost effortlessly.

“Come on. Let’s find a place to catch up and get you out of the cold.”

May sighed and nodded, reveling in her sister’s warmth and protectiveness. While it had been nice to be on her own and not feel like she had to depend on June to be there for her, there was nothing like having her sister by her side again. Nothing made her feel quite as safe as having the older ravenette around.

June was glad to have May back herself, because her world didn’t feel right without the younger girl there by her side, even if she knew her sister was safe and sound. The closest she could get to actually being at peace was having May nearby, happy and safe.

With June’s words, the tall skeleton approached the sisters with a kind smile.

“if you need a warm, safe place to be, then you’re welcome at our house. follow us, ladies.”

After exchanging a quick glance, the girls nodded to him and June started following the two skeletons, the smaller skeleton glancing back at them occasionally with an excited look in his big blue eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Credit to the Creator:** Underswap was started by the lovely popcornpr1nce (for whom I can no longer find a link to their Tumblr), and has since been adopted by the community. (And I apologize in advance if I miss-typed their name - I kept finding conflicting sources on how it was spelled...)
> 
> First off, _finally!!_ I know it's been a good minute since the girls have gotten together - hence the title of this one. And trust me, I'm as glad to have the girls back together as you are! Now, I know for sure we have one more chapter pre-written for an update...but after that, if I don't have my flash drive fixed and the rest of the writing back in time for the next update, I'll have to leave us on a hiatus like the others. (For anyone who doesn't know or has forgotten, I wrote an author's note and left it on the works that are still on hiatus. [Here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11446308/chapters/26536281) is a link to said note.) However, I'm not abandoning any of the stories, and _especially_ not this one. I just wanted to give everyone a head's up as to what's going on, in case after next week's update, the author's note makes a reappearance. Hopefully it won't but...we'll see.
> 
> In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed this one, and we'll see you next week for more. -S


	54. Fruity Skeletons and Serious Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! No translations or warnings in this one, just a lot of the girls catching up and getting settled with the Swap boys. Still pretty cute, though! -S

“WELCOME TO OUR HOME, HUMANS!!” shouted the excitable little skeleton, getting a giggle out of the younger Skies sister.

“Thank you…um…”

“I AM THE MAGNIFICENT SANS!! MWEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

“bro, these two know other versions of us. they aren’t from here,” the taller brother explained. This version of Sans paused but the stars in his eyes returned rather quickly.

“OH! SO YOU ARE AWARE OF THE OTHER UNIVERSES!” he declared as he shut the door behind the girls. “YOU ARE HUMANS FROM OTHER PLACES! THAT’S INCREDIBLE!! IN THAT CASE, HOWEVER, IT WOULD BE EASIER FOR YOU BOTH TO CALL ME THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY! MWEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

May smiled, obviously totally enamored with “Blueberry”, though her smile would fade a little as she touched the rainbow scarf tied around her neck. June would smile faintly at the little skeleton, her attentions still obviously dominated by her sister. Nevertheless, June turned to the orange-clad skeleton with a raised eyebrow.

“What about you, big guy?”

“oh, me? ah, they kinda have a few nicknames for me. orange, carrot, swap…honey…”

Both snorted in amusement at the last one.

“Why Honey?” May asked, tilting her head curiously as she did.

“ya know how classic drinks ketchup? and red drinks mustard?”

“Red? You mean Fell Sans? Edgy?”

“yep. we call him red. anyway, classic drinks ketchup, red drinks mustard, i drink honey.”

June made a face, and May giggled in her arms.

“Does that mean you’re really sweet?” May teased innocently. Orange’s eyes went wide as he blushed, and June snorted, trying not to drop her sister.

“Oh my god…” she muttered out before finally breaking into laughter, putting the little girl down. “Oh my god, baby girl, that was so _smooth!_ Oh my god…I’m so proud. Just like your big sister.”

“Shut up…” May mumbled, blushing and folding her arms. “I’m not that much like you.”

“You kiddin’? I’m lookin’ at a little mini-me!”

“Am not! Shut up!”

“Aw, not feeling the connection, baby girl?” June teased before playing hurt and dramatically gasping, fluttering her eyes and holding a hand to her chest. “Do you not love me anymore, dearest little sister of mine?”

May’s face just turned redder and she got more and more flustered, finally stomping her foot and shouting June’s name. The older girl laughed, scooping up her sister again and cuddling her affectionately.

“You know I’m just teasing, baby girl.~ God I missed this.”

May almost instantly thawed back out to the taller ravenette, hugging her back.

“Missed you too, sis. Even if you _are_ a jerk-butt.”

June snorted, with an amused grin, but didn’t let go.

“uh…what was all that about?”

“Oh, uh…I’m kinda a huge flirt with absolutely no shame. She’s not. Never flirted before ever. At least, not that I know of. So that adorable comment she just made was not only baby’s first flirt, but one of her very rare puns, too.”

“I was only thinking of the pun when I said it…” May muttered, scuffing her shoe against the floor in shy embarrassment. Blueberry next to her gasped as if she had personally wounded him with her admission.

“ON NO!! YOU HAVE BEEN CORRUPTED BY PUNS!! NEVER FEAR, ME-SIZED HUMAN!! WE SHALL SPEND ENOUGH TIME TOGETHER THAT I SHALL PURGE YOU OF THE NEED TO PUN FOREVER MORE!!! MWEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

“h-hold up, bro. i’ve gotta talk to them before you guys go off to play. boring multiverse science stuff. how about you whip up some tacos for us?”

Blueberry’s face lit up as stars burst into his eyes yet again, the pupils forming literal stars. He didn’t hesitate to agree to go do that, running off to go make tacos for them with his adorable little laugh. This version of Papyrus breathed a soft sigh of relief before turning back to the girls.

“okay, so. first things first –”

“Hold that thought. May. Verdict?”

May studied the tall skeleton a moment, scrutinizing him before turning to her sister with a smile.

“Orange.”

“Orange? You’re sure?”

She nodded, confident in her choice.

“Orange.”

June nodded back, returning her attention to the perplexed skeleton.

“Orange it is. From now on, that’s what we’ll call you. Now, Orange, question – how the hell were you able to recognize us?”

Now he seemed to get his bearings back, blinking at them a few times before finally shaking it off and shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket as lazily as possible.

“outer sent out a message to everyone. only those who were previously aware of the existence of the other universes would get it, so it wouldn’t confuse the others, or expose them prematurely. anyway, message was about the two of you. at least, i assume it is. the description matches. two human females with long black hair and pale skin. one taller than the other, one with freckles and blue eyes, the other with green eyes and colorful pictures all over her. called ‘em tattoos, if i remember right. but he said the names were may and june for the short and tall ones, respectively, and that if we encountered you guys, we were supposed to help you. something about being on a mission to save the multiverse?”

“Well, that about sums it up, actually. I remember when he told us he was gonna do that, too. I actually forgot he did that for us, given that most of the universes we’ve come across hadn’t gotten the memo.”

“Actually, I ran across one that evidently was aware, but Sans didn’t know I was coming? I dunno what that was about. Didn’t think to ask.”

June snorted in response.

“Somehow, I can’t say I’m surprised. Ran into one that was aware myself. He _ignored_ Outer’s message. Can you believe that? At least he had the good sense to act sheepish about it to my face. Bonehead.”

May snorted a laugh out, followed by a giggle as June shook her head.

“At least _someone_ is fucking listening. But anyway, this does save us at least a little bit of explanation and time. But yeah, the basic information’s there. Obviously, I’m June. This is May. We’re the humans Outer was talking about.”

“And do we have a story to tell you, Orange,” May added, sobering immediately. (A serious May was a bit of a spooky thing, actually.)

Together, the two of them sat him down and told him their story, trading who was telling what parts. When their accounts split in Handplates, they lowered their voices, not wanting the (obviously) precious cinnamon roll Blueberry to hear what they’d been through. After they got to the part of Error splitting them up, they each retold their parts of what happened, starting with June. She did, of course, leave out the bit of G handling and touching her Soul, and merely glossed over it when she couldn’t come up with a good reason why she was blushing. Once she finished her piece, May took over, skipping over anything that had to do with her dying at Chara’s hands. She did, however, mention that the time loop of fighting Chara and losing, completely losing track of at least two days. Then the second half of her tale, involving the other Chara and the new monster, Asriel. She fondly touched the scarf or played with it when she talked about him.

“Aww, I think someone’s got a crush on a little goat boy!~” June teased at the end of May’s story.

“Yeah? From what you were talking about, you have a lot more than just a crush on G, so I don’t wanna hear it, snarky pants!”

Now the sisters were both red in the face, and Orange was leaning back and chuckling.

“What?” they both demanded huffily.

“nothin’, nothin’. just enjoying the show.”

The two females rolled their eye s and groaned lightly, trying to be serious again.

“I’m sorry you got hurt so bad. I mean, I know Error doesn’t like us – you in particular – but that…seems like a bit much, even for him.”

June shook her head and waved it off.

“Shit happens. Besides, I can at least appreciate that the prick’s honest about how he feels about me. If he were playing the two-faced bitch kind of game, I’d kick and blast his sorry ass from one end of the Anti-Void to the other. Can’t stand that shit…” she grumbled to herself, folding her arms and flopping back against the couch. May nodded sympathetically.

“Besides, baby girl…kinda sounds like you had your own hell you had to go through. Don’t feel bad for me. Hell, I may be the one doing all the fighting and getting hurt, but you’re the one doing all the real work. It’s you who time and time again has to dispel Error’s strings or stop whatever it is he’s up to. I just destroy shit, cause chaos, and try to protect you.”

“And fall in love with skeletons, evidently.”

“At least I’m not a furry. Hey, wait! I never said – we didn’t – he – there was no mention of love anywhere in there, you little twerp!”

May just giggled innocently and tilted her head.

“Oh? So my reading between the lines was wrong? You don’t love him?”

“I – well – I-I just – _mind your own goddamn business, May!_ ”

Now the younger was full on cackling, and June was pacing agitatedly, her pale cheeks practically glowing with the force of her blush. When June finally calmed enough to sit back down next to her sister grumbling, May gave the older girl a bemused smile, turning on her.

“What’s a furry, anyway?”

Orange and June both flushed, and from the look on Orange’s face, he was really close to nope-ing the heck up outta there. June quickly pulled the child into her lap and whispered the explanation into her ear. May looked absolutely mortified by the time June was done, and she practically leapt across the room in her haste to get away from her sister.

“O-oh my god, you’re so shameless! I am most certainly not one of those! I can’t believe – I would never – you’re horrible!”

June chuckled, her own blush fading some.

“You know I was teasing, so calm your nonexistent-yet tits. Anyway, now that we’re caught up…Orange. Anything to comment on, add, questions for us? What?”

Orange slouched into the couch a little more, as if finally contemplating everything the two had said. He was silent long enough that Blueberry came back into the room with a plate of tacos, and the four ate in silence. (Well, sort of. The girls took a bite each and almost instantly regretted it. Blueberry couldn’t cook, and the girls both shot subtle glares at an apologetic Orange. Neither had the heart to tell the energetic blue skeleton that he couldn’t cook, so they lied through their teeth about how good it was. He was happy, and Orange seemed grateful. Both gave him looks, however, that said he owed them for him not saying anything about the food first.) While they were eating, Orange finally began to speak.

“there are a couple things that really threw me. like your stats, june. even stats as high as yours, you definitely shouldn’t have been able to survive a gaster blaster blast – not once, but twice. and you especially shouldn’t have been able to absorb the blast and fire it back. and may, your story of meeting level gaster – the goopy one in that dark space you remember – that shouldn’t have been possible. partially because that would mean you were first sent to that universe’s pocket dimension of the void. and we definitely need to explore this thing of you both…existing when it shouldn’t be possible.”

“WHY WOULDN’T IT BE POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO EXIST, PAPY? THEY OBVIOUSLY EXIST – THEY ARE SITTING RIGHT HERE!! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!”

“it’s multiverse paradoxes and anomalies and science stuff, bro. it’s really complicated.”

“OH. I SEE. THERE IS SOMETHING I AM CURIOUS ABOUT, HUMANS. WHAT DID MY BROTHER MEAN WHEN HE SAID YOU SURVIVED A ‘GASTER BLASTER’ BLAST AND SHOULD NOT HAVE?”

June and May blinked, glancing at each other. Right, he hadn’t heard their stories.

“Well…a Gaster Blaster is a special type of magic attack. They’re very powerful, and I’ve only ever seen versions of Gaster and other versions of you use it, Blueberry. But I knew a guy who realized my magic was close enough to be able to summon my own Gaster Blasters.”

“what? when? how?” Orange demanded, all three looking shocked. Whoops. Had she forgotten to mention that?

“THAT IS INCREDIBLE, TALL HUMAN!! MAY I SEE THIS ‘GASTER BLASTER’ ATTACK?! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO USE IT! I JUST WISH TO SEE IT!!”

June chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

“Uh, I dunno, Blueberry. I mean, it’s kind of…big. And I’m not sure how okay your brother would be with me summoning one in your house.”

“Actually, I wanna see too. Is it okay, Orange? Can she summon her blaster? Please?” May begged, her big blue eyes as starry as Blueberries. With both of the little cuties giving him puppy eyes, it was a wonder he took so long to cave.

“alright, alright, fine. as long as she doesn’t use it.”

“I won’t, big guy. I’ll be careful. Even if it would be a _blast_.”

May giggled at the pun, while Blueberry groaned dramatically. Orange stared at her a second before laughing himself and gesturing for June to go ahead. With the consent given, the teen stood and looked for the best spot (spatially speaking) to summon her blaster. Once she picked where she would put it, she manifested her magic with a flare of blazing orange and dark blue. Hearing gasps, she cast a look over to the surprised skeletons and chuckled, returning her focus to her magic. Once she had as much of it gathered as she was going to get, she traced the shape of the two blasters she wanted to summon. Releasing the magic into the two forms, she smirked as her audience stared at the summoned blasters.

They were both as elegant and fierce as before, but with two, she had one whose eyes glowed specifically blue, and the other’s glowed orange. Both hummed with energy, but June had no intention of firing them, so they both just floated down to her. One hovered protectively by her side, while the other nuzzled up against her affectionately. Orange looked as if he couldn’t believe she’d managed to summon blasters of her own, while May and Blueberry were ecstatic about it.

“OH. MY. GOODNESS!! HUMAN!! THESE ARE…THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT!! EASILY AS MAGNIFICENT AS I!!”

“They’re so pretty, June! Pretty and tough and cool, just like you!”

June laughed, the two blasters purring in response to her feelings.

“Thanks, baby girl. Seems like they like the praise too. You can pet them, ya know. As long as my intent is still not to fire, they’ll behave.”

May grinned gleefully – truly the visage of an excited small child – before she reached out for the one pressed to June’s side. As soon as the girl began reached for it, the blaster trilled happily and shot from June’s side to the girl, practically knocking her down. May just gasped and giggled in glee as the affectionate blaster showered her in attention.

“Whoa…” June murmured, laughing a little as she ran a hand through her hair. “That’s so weird! I noticed it before, but it’s like these babies have personalities of their own…”

“they don’t really,” Orange explained. “the blasters are separate entities from the one who summoned them, so they can move and think at least slightly independently of their wielder. however, they actually take on one facet of their wielder’s personality and amplify it. so the one all over being affectionate and friendly? that one is clearly reflecting your love and loyalty. the one still by your side is likely more showing the stoic guardian in you.”

“Huh…I never would have known that. Thanks, Orange.”

Orange flashed her a small smile, watching as Blueberry was then knocked over by the affectionate blaster, the stoic one huffing at it. It then lost interest in watching the two smaller figures with the friendly blaster and turned its gaze on Orange. After a minute, June watched it float over to Orange and sniff at him curiously. The skeleton stiffened, but held still as the blaster examined him. After a moment or two, it settled by his side, nudging his hand for attention after a minute of being ignored.

“I think it wants you to pet it,” June pointed out, glancing at the funny spectacle out of the corner of her eye as she watched the other two playing with the friendlier blaster. (May had managed to convey that she wanted to sit on its head, and the blaster now had both of them dangling from a horn each. It was pretty cute.)

Orange hesitated, but eventually laid his hand on the blaster’s muzzle. It purred softly once, going back to standing vigil over the other two with its fellow blaster.

“heh…wow. for having only just learned how to summon them, you’ve gotten pretty good at controlling yours. and you’ve managed to successfully summon more than one multiple times now. that’s pretty damn impressive.”

June shrugged, casually petting the blaster sitting between her and Orange as well.

“Don’t know what to tell you. I’m a quick study. And I’ve had my other powers since I was younger than May. Likening the magic to that made it easier to handle, I guess. Or it could be multiverse paradox anomaly BS. Who knows?”

Orange winced at that, but her tone and chill expression made it clear that it didn’t really bother her.

“right. and about who taught you how to use the blasters…”

“It was G, alright? Don’t get your boxers in a twist. He taught me thinking it might give me a leg up on Error.”

“think she could learn to use them?” he asked softly, June glancing at him when she noticed the undercurrent of apprehension in his voice. The older ravenette shook her head.

“Nah. May’s magic is too different. I’ve got gravity, like all you skele-boys, and my orange behaves like your regular magic. It’s close enough to pull off this little trick. Hers is healing, shields, poison, and trap. Nothing even remotely close.”

Orange nodded. June had a point, after all. With G’s theory that she could summon the blasters because her magic was close to theirs, it meant May didn’t stand a chance of learning how to use them. But that was okay. She seemed plenty pleased that June knew how.

Having finished playing with the blaster, May suddenly came running up to her sister and grabbed her hand, a twinkle in her icy eyes.

“I’ve actually got something to show you, too! Well, a couple somethings I learned, actually. You’ll love to see this, promise. And one of them I can teach you how to do, too! Blueberry, wanna help me show June something cool?”

“SURE, MAY HUMAN!! I WOULD BE GLAD TO ASSIST YOU!”

With the two finished with them, June allowed the Gaster Blasters to disappear, sighing as she made herself adjust quickly to the magic flooding back into her system. May then dragged all three of them out behind the boys’ house, so unwanted eyes wouldn’t pry.

“Okay, Orange, you stand right here. June, stand over there, okay? Blueberry…right there is perfect. Thanks, guys!” May chirped once they were all in position. She had Blueberry standing off to the side, with Orange standing next to her on one side of the yard, and June on the other. With all three waiting for her to show off her new skills, she prepped herself before willing herself to activate her super speed, dashing across the backyard in the blink of an eye. The girl actually ran too far, crashing into a wall while she tried to skid to a stop. June was quick to help her sister up.

“I’ve still gotta work on stopping,” May laughed weakly, brushing snow off herself as June checked her for bruises or injuries. “And my reaction times. But yeah, there’s one of them. Now I’ve got speed _and_ strength.”

“Use them both, and…well, I’d hate to be the one who tries to pressure you into doing anything against your will,” June chuckled, May nodding in agreement with a giggle. “What was the other thing you wanted to show me?”

May beckoned both the taller people to watch as she stood across from Blueberry.

“Ready, Blueberry? This might be a little weird, so tell me if you want me to stop, okay?”

He gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up with a wide grin, posing proudly. May quietly adjusted Asriel’s scarf around her neck before settling herself, then repeating the procedure for starting a confrontation. The young girl was the only one who didn’t gasp in shock when Blueberry’s Soul was pulled from his chest, shining bright and brilliant white in front of him. May smiled proudly.

“Remember how I said the Chara I met taught me how to start confrontations with the monsters, instead of the other way around? Well, that’s how you can do it without having the intent to harm them. It was really useful in that universe.”

June nodded, numbly, and Orange stared at the small girl.

“geez…you two have come a long way from what outer sent out…”

“No kidding…baby girl, you’re gonna have to teach me that.”

“Don’t worry, sis. I will! Oh, but first…sorry about leaving you hanging, Blueberry.”

After successfully returning the smaller skeleton’s Soul to his chest, he walked over surprisingly calmly and stood next to May, occasionally casting glances her direction with a soft sky blue blush across his cheekbones. The four then made their way back inside, with June trying to explain how she was able to survive the Gaster Blaster hit from Red (or Edgy or Fell, whatever they were calling him), and how she absorbed the power from Handplates Gaster’s blaster before firing it back. It didn’t come across well, so she instead used her telepathy to impart the memories to Orange, who gaped in pale shock at her.

“you…are insanely powerful. do you realize that? i don’t say this often – or ever, if i can get away with it – but your raw power honestly terrifies me.”

“Yeah, G seemed pretty unnerved by just what I was capable of when he saw me go ballistic the one time. And he was plenty shocked by the force behind my blaster when I made my first successful one. But yeah, no, I realize I’ve got a lot of power. Why do you think I spent – continue to spend – so much time learning control? That kind of power…I don’t even want to think about what anyone else could or would do with what I’ve got.”

Orange nodded, composing himself after the way June had so obviously rattled him.

“Relax, big guy,” June sighed as she and Orange settled on the couch. “I’m not interested in hurting or fighting anybody. We’re only here because it was where we settled on meeting up after being separated. We don’t plan on sticking around long, either, as far as I know. So don’t go getting your boxers in a twist, ‘kay? Oh, but I guess I should ask in that case…you seen or heard about any weirdness going on? Anything that might seem like Error’s doing?”

Orange thought about it, but shook his head, watching May and Sans retreat into Sans’ room to play.

“can’t say that we have. things have been pretty quiet, actually. guess error hasn’t decided to hit here, yet. which is good, because –”

“Please don’t go all dramatic and threatening to the being that isn’t even currently here. Also, don’t fuckin’ jinx it, man,” June cut him off, rolling her eyes. Orange huffed at her, sinking further into the couch as he relaxed.

“we never did discuss how it shouldn’t have been possible for may to access level’s pocket dimension of the void,” he stated after a minute of silence. June tilted her head curiously.

“Well, let’s discuss it, then. She doesn’t really do much of the science-y stuff anyway. She has a vague understanding I think, from all that’s happened or things I’ve told her, but otherwise…nah. Science is my field. What?” she added when Orange gave her a skeptical look. “A girl can’t have the trifecta?”

“the what?” he asked, already laughing.

“You know. The trifecta. The three most important things a person can have. No one person has all three – unless it’s the movies or a story or some shit. Because Mary-slash-Gary-Sues. Anyway, the trifecta – brains, brawn, beauty. At least, that’s how it’s described for girls. Me, I got lucky. I had the brains and beauty to begin with. I trained and worked hard for the brawn, though. Super strength not included. Because magic and superpowers and shit are cheating.”

“wow. sounds kinda superficial.”

“It is. But humans are weird and stupid, so it’s a thing.”

Orange snorted and shot her a funny look.

“helluva way to describe your own kind.”

June snorted right back, but it was much less amused.

“Yeah, well…I’m not in the mood to talk about it now. Just know that most of the rest of humanity that I’ve met have been huge sacks of shit and leave it be. Anyway, we veered wildly off topic. This whole thing of a pocket dimension of the Void and May…explain to me why it shouldn’t be possible that she was actually there.”

“well, the void is just that. a literal void. nothing can exist there, supposedly. obviously, it is possible to exist there, but not for long. anything that stays in the void gets erased from existence. at least, that’s what i’ve noticed. thing is, it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get to and from the void. so the fact that error just…threw her in…that doesn’t sit right with me. and from what may said, he meant to throw her right into the universe, not into the connected pocket dimension of the void. it sounds like he wasn’t even aware that she went there first instead of wherever she was intended to go. and then gaster was able to just push her out of the void, but wasn’t able to get out himself? there are so many things throwing up red flags, it’s not even funny.”

June hummed as she thought over it. When it came to science, her areas were physics, space, engineering, electronics, chemistry…well, to put it another way, her field wasn’t quantum mechanics or theoretical physics. Time-space-continuum things weren’t her strong suit. But, as she’d said, she was a quick study. And she had picked up a lot from the various skeletons they had interacted with on this crazy ride. Hopefully some of that could finally be put to use…

“Well, a point for the whole anything that exists in the Void ceases to exist on our plane of existence thing…I think May wasn’t immediately erased because of one of two things. Either she didn’t spend enough time in contact with the Void for it to erase her…or because of our natures as anomalies, the Void _couldn’t_ erase her. Like how we’ve been saving universes instead of making them crash and burn with our very existence. I’ve given this some thought, and…I think, on some level, we’ve become like Ink and Error. While we originally did come from one of the universes, and we do still have ties back to that universe…somehow, we also have one foot outside the multiverse as a whole, so that we both exist within it…and outside of it at the same time. See where I’m going with this?”

Orange blinked, looking taken aback and very intrigued by her theory.

“kind of? because ink and error have something similar. being tied back to both of them being some version of sans, they have at least one link back to the multiverse…but since they live in and exist in the anti-void, they are also outside of it, and can influence things and manipulate them without necessarily causing the universe to collapse in on itself. you think you and may have something like that going on, right?”

June nodded, her dark eyes sharp and focused, now betraying the intelligence her looks otherwise obscured.

“So, by that token, we somehow…are exempt from certain rules, it seems. Like, anyone else jumping universes like this would be hella unstable by now, right? I mean, we’ve been hopping around for months now without once returning to our home universe.”

“no, you’re right. anyone else would be losing control of their magic and would be on the verge of falling down by now. but…could that have more to do with the two of you being human as well? your physical bodies making you more stable than anyone else, since you have something more substantial to keep you going than just magic?”

“It’s possible, but you had a point at losing control of the magic thing. Even if our physical bodies made us more stable, that only counts towards our physical presence. Our magic would be going haywire by now, and we would both probably be dead from overuse or something. So I think it’s more than just our being human that affects this.”

“you’ve got a point…” Orange mumbled, clicking the sucker in his mouth on his teeth as he rolled it around, thinking. “but then, _why_ are you two exempt from the rules, exactly?”

June shrugged, honestly not sure herself.

“Like I said, all I can figure is it has something to do with us being kind of like Ink and Error – the whole one foot in, one foot out thing. Our status as anomalies in not just our universe, but the multiverse as a whole would affect stuff like this. But I’ll admit, most of the theorizing I’m just doing is on the fly. I don’t know that much on the subject of space-time-continuum, paradox-slash-anomaly stuff.”

“for not knowing much, you really know how to make a sound theory.”

“Like I said before, I’m a quick study. And all this is just stuff I’ve picked up from you guys. After all, you’d know more than I would, right?”

Orange shrugged, though it was more of a shrug to admit that this was a field where they both didn’t know too terribly much. Then the moment was interrupted by a scream, and both their heads whipped to the noise.

“May,” June murmured before making a break for Blueberry’s room. Orange was right on her heels, and when they both burst through the door, they found…Blueberry wrestling with a squealing and wriggling May, having pinned her to the floor and was trying to tickle her. She was doing her best to dodge his hands, though it was mostly a futile effort. The sight was actually kind of cute, now that they knew the screaming wasn’t anyone being in danger. Both the taller two relaxed, glancing to each other with wry smiles.

May managed to get a hand free after much wiggling, and her magic flared to life as purple shot forth from her hand, smacking Blueberry in the chest and pinning him to the wall in a tangle of purple. She panted and got to her feet with a triumphant grin, holding him in place with one unmoving hand, careful of her magic. The bright tendrils of her magic had not just wrapped around the skeleton, but also woven themselves between his bones as well, and June had to chuckle at the predicament May had inadvertently put the little guy in. The older ravenette remembered from an accidental discovery of her own with G that the bones of the skeleton monsters were rather sensitive, so just how she had poor Blueberry all wrapped up…there was no way it was comfortable. And a quick glance to Orange made her laugh more, earning her an accusatory glare.

“I literally have not had time to teach her that. Calm yourself,” June laughed at him, causing more orange to spread across the taller skeleton’s cheekbones. May then whipped her head to see the two of them in the doorway, and she instantly smiled and waved innocently. (Blueberry, though, turned a lovely shade of blue, just like his namesake. How adorable.)

When May remembered she had Blueberry pinned to the wall, she released her magic, and it almost appeared as if plant material were being shredded when it disappeared. Still, June couldn’t resist the implication of what they had just witnessed…

“Hentai?” June muttered to Orange, covering it with a fake cough. From the choking noise she heard next to her, her plan worked.

“holy fuck!” Orange spluttered between coughs, having nearly swallowed his sucker whole, stick and all. June burst out laughing (full on doubled over laughing, a rarity with her), and tears sprang to her eyes.

“Uh, guys? Why are you being weird?” May asked, confused. She glanced to Blueberry, who (though still blushing slightly) just scratched his skull and shrugged.

“Worth it!” June managed, with Orange just glaring weakly at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so like I warned in the last one, unfortunately, this is the last chapter that we had pre-written for the story. Until I can get my writing back, after this, I'll have to put the story on hiatus. Sorry, guys! However, know that I _will not_ be abandoning this story, or any of them! It'll just take me a while to get things back in order. Until then, I appreciate everyone's patience and understanding. I hope you guys continue to enjoy our fan fic, and I hope to see all of you back for the next time I get to update. -S


End file.
